THE PUBLIC DOMAIN--GOVERNMENT TITLE TO IT--TITLE UNDER THE CONFEDERATION OF STATES--DISPOSAL OF THESE LANDS TO INDIVIDUALS--EARLY SURVEYS--THE METHOD--COLONIAL SYSTEM, WITH SUBSEQUENT MODIFICATIONS--METHOD IN EARLY UNITED STATES SURVEYS--ADOPTION OF THE RECTANGULAR SYSTEM OF SURVEYS--THE SYSTEM IN DETAIL--LAND DISTRICTS AND LAND OFFICES--LAND SALES, ETC.
"The Public Domain, as it is called, consists of the lands belonging to the General Government, as distinguished from the unimproved lands belong to the individual States, or private owners," says Judge Hall, in his "Notes on the Western States." Anterior to the discovery and occupancy of the Continent of North America by Europeans, the title to lands embraced within the territorial area of the United States as now recognized, was vested in the various Indian tribes and families, who were the primitive inhabitants and occupants of the country. It would seem natural and proper, therefore, that they, possessing a proprietary right to the soil, should have been consulted, at least, in the transfer of these rights to others, notwithstanding the right of discovery and of conquest by Europeans, were made to supersede the rights of original possession. While the policy may have been in accord with the laws of civilized nations to make the right of discovery supreme by force, it is not in accord with the doctrines of the higher law of inherent rights, as expressed by our Revolutionary fathers in the great charter of American liberty. Having discovered the continent and caused the light of Christian civilization, so called, to shine upon it, all other rights than those of discovery appear to have been dissipated by the benignant sunshine, and the discoverers, by assumption, took formal possession. Whether these things were right, is for the Supreme Arbiter of Justice to decide.
On such premises, in the course of time, liberal grants to favored representatives were made by the King, in whose name and to whose credit these discoveries and acquisitions acquired consequence-of extensive territorial areas, embracing, sometimes, in their boundaries, the subsequent area of several States. These grants were in the nature of charters, vesting in the grantees, with authority to plant colonies within the limits of the prescribed grant. King James I of England, on the 10th of April 1606, granted letters patent "for two several colonies and plantations, to be made in Virginia and other parts and Territories of America." In this instance, the grantees, "Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers and others of London and elsewhere, were authorized to plant their colony at any place on the Atlantic coast between the 34th and 4lst degrees of north latitude." This grant embraced "all the lands, woods from the first seat of their plantation by the space of fifty miles of English statute measure, all along the coast of Virginia, toward the west and south west, as the coast lyeth, with all the islands within 100 miles, directly over against the same coast, and also the lands, soil," etc., "from the said place of their first plantation and habitation for the space of fifty like English miles, all along the coast of Virginia and America, toward the east and northeast, or toward the north, as the coast lyeth, together with all the islands within 100 miles, directly over against the said coast, and also, all the lands, woods," etc., "from the same fifty miles every way on the coast, direct into the main land, by the space of 100 like English miles." Subsequently, through the agency of similar grants of territory made to the colony of Virginia, and to other colonies and companies, the major part of all the lands comprised within the limits of the United States and Territories, was acquired. By the "Articles of Confederation and perpetual union between the States," entered into at Philadelphia, on the 9th of July, 1778, each separate State retained its proprietary right to the unoccupied lands within its borders, no title vesting in the United States by virtue of that union of States; hence," the uninhabited wilds lying to the west, and as yet not closely defined by established boundaries, were claimed by the adjacent States, and portions of them by foreign nations, under conflicting claims, but all subject to the paramount Indian title. The title, therefore, of the United States to that country, is derived: 1st. From treaties with foreign nations. 2d. From treaties with the Indian tribes. And 3d. From cessions by individual States, members of the Union." The titles thus acquired by the United States, were so acquired by the National Government in its capacity as such, chiefly since the adoption and ratification of the "more perfect union," known as the "Constitution of the United States of America," at present existing. "The treaties with foreign nations, by which territory has been acquired, are those of 1783 and 1794, with Great Britain; of 1795 and 1820, with Spain, and of 1803 with France. It is sufficient to say of these treaties, that by them, we acquired Louisiana and the Floridas, and extinguished all the claims of foreign nations to the immense regions lying west of the several States, and extending to the Pacific Ocean." "The lands east of the Mississippi, and contained within the boundaries designated by the treaty with Great Britain, of 1783, were claimed by individual States, and the title of the United States to that Territory, is derived from cessions made by those States. These cessions embrace three distinct tracts of country:
"1st. The whole territory north of the River Ohio, and west of Pennsylvania and Virginia, extending northwardly to the northern boundary of the United States, and westwardly to the Mississippi, was claimed by Virginia, and that State was in possession of the French settlements of Vincennes and Kaskaskia, which she had occupied and defended during the Revolutionary war. The States of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, set up to portions of the same territory, claims, which, though scarcaly plausible, were urgently pressed upon the consideration of Congress. The United States, by cessions from those four States,. acquired an indisputable title to the whole. This tract now comprises Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan."
"2d; North Carolina ceded to the United States all her vacant lands lying west of the Alleghany Mountains within the breadth of her charter. This territory is comprised within the State of Tennessee.
"3d. South Carolina and Georgia ceded their titles to that tract of country which now composes the States of Alabama and Mississippi.
"The United States having thus become the sole proprietary of what have since been called the public lands, the Nation was rescued from evils of the most threatening and embarrassing aspect The claims of foreign nations adverse to our own, to the broadly expanded region lying west of the several States, and extending to the Pacific, were extinguished, depriving those nations of all excuse for tampering with the Indians upon our border, and rescuing our frontier from the dangerous vicinity of foreign military posts. The boundaries of the then frontier States were defined, and they were prevented from growing into an inordinate size, and acquiring an undue preponderance in the Government--the interfering claims of several States to 'the same territory were silenced--but, above all, the General Government, in acquiring the sole jurisdiction over the vacant lands, was enabled to establish a uniform system for their settlement, and the erection of new States. To the latter, admission into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the older members of the. Confederacy was secured, while the land was offered to the settlers at a fair price under an unexceptionable title. The disinterested policy of. the which made these liberal cessions, cannot be too highly applauded. Virginia, in particular, displayed a magnanimity which entitles her the lasting gratitude of the American people; her territory was by far the largest, and her sacrifice to the general good, the noblest. It was disinterested, because she reserved no remuneration to herself."*
*Hall's Notes on the Western States, pp.150-154
Under the ordinance of cession, made by Virginia to the United States, the following reservation was made: "That the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of Kaskaskia, St. Viucent' and the neighboring villages, who have professed themselves citizens of Virginia, shall have their professions and titles confirmed 'to them, and be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties." In addition to this reservation, a certain quantity of lands having been promised by Virginia, to Gen. George Rogers Clarke, and to the officers and soldiers who served under him in the reduction of the French posts, a reservation to that effect was incorporated, for the purpose of fulfilling the terms of that promise. This cession was made in 1784.
By the ordinance of Congress passed in 1787 for the government of the Northwestern Territory, certain prohibitions were imposed, concerning the management of the lands embraced in its provisions, among which, these are the most important to the people of this locality: "The legislatures of those districts, or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposition of the soil by the United States, in Congress assembled, nor in any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bonafide purchasers." "No tax shall be imposed upon lands the property of the United States, and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents."
From what has been written in the preceding pages, the fact is reasonably established that no portion of the lands embraced in our vast territory have been acquired or even claimed by our Government, by conquest, under the usages of war. Aside from the acquired by purchase or cession from civilized nations under the forms of law, the Government, recognizing the existence of paramount rights inherent in the Indian tribes of this country, has uniformly consulted those tribes, and procured from them for what was accepted as a valuable consideration, under treaty stipulations, the cession of all rights vested in them. In illustration of this doctrine, we cite the reader to "the treaty of Greenville, made by Gen. Wayne in 1795 at the head of 'a victorious army, with the chiefs of the tribes who had just before been vanquished by him in battle, is one of the first in date, in reference' to the public domain, and affords sufficient evidence of the early adoption of a pacific and just policy by our Government. Nothing is claimed in that treaty by right of conquest. The parties agree to establish perpetual peace--the Indians acknowledge themselves to he under the protection of the United States, and not of any foreign power-they promise to sell their lands to the United States only--the latter agrees to protect them, and a few regulations are adopted to govern the intercourse which shall ensue. A boundary line is established by which the Indians confirm to us large tracts of land, nearly all of which had been ceded to us by former treaties; and the United States agrees to pay them in goods to the value of $20,000, and to make them a further payment of $9,500 annually. Most of the treaties subsequently made, have been framed on this model."
"So far then, as title by purchase could be gained, that title has been acquired by. the Federal Republic. She has extinguished every title which could be possibly set up as adverse to her own namely, those of foreign nations, those of Indian tribes, and those of such States as possessed or alleged them; and she has confirmed to individuals every acre to which the plausible shadow of a right could be shown, either in law or equity;" and the validity of those purchases, or of the rights acquired under them has never been disputed.
During the existence of the "Confederation of States," titles to individual and other purchasers, were acquired through the agency of the State in which the land was situated. Since the confirmation of all titles in the General Government, purchasers have derived their sole right of ownership from the United States, as the supreme authority. "In 1787, the Ohio Company purchased a large tract from Congress, which body having adopted no system for the sale of lands, or the settlement of the Western country, seemed disposed to favor the mode of parceling out her wide domain in extensive grants. The purchase of the Ohio Company comprehended one million and a half of acres." In 1789, John Cleves Symmes, also, contracted , with Congress for the purchase of a million acres of land, between the Great Miami and Little Miami, but the patent subsequently issued to him and his associates included only 311,682 acres, of which only 248540, acres became private property. At first, it appears to have been the disposition of Congress to sell large grants to single individuals, but this became unpopular because of the attempted speculation at the expense of the purchaser for homestead purposes, for whose interest lands were afterward sold in tracts of forty and eighty acres. To this end, Mr. Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, in a report dated July 20, 1790, submitted, for the consideration of Congress', these suggestions: That no land shall be sold except such in respect to, which the titles of the. Indian tribes shall have been previously extinguished. That convenient tracts shall, from time to time, be set apart for the purpose of locations by actual settlers, in quantities not exceeding, to one person, one hundred acres. The first positive step taken toward modifying the old system of selling the public lands in large quantities to individuals or companies, was, on the 10th of May, 1800, which provided for the sale of lands in sections and half-sections. Prior to that date, no more than 121,540 acres had been sold, in addition to the Symmes purchase. Of this quantity, 72,974 acres had been disposed of at public sale in New York, in 1787, for $87,325, in evidences of public debt; 43,446 acres, at public sales in Pittsburgh, in 1796, for $100,427, and 5,120 acres at Philadelphia, in the same year, at $2 per acre. The credit of taking the first step in the direction of a radical reform in disposing of these lands is due to Gen. William H. Harrison, who, in 1799, was a Delegate to Congress from the Northwestern Territory.
At the session of 1799 and 1800, Gen.. Harrison introduced a bill embodying the proposed provisions, and the introduction produced a sensation, showing how little thought had been bestowed upon the question of such momentous interest to the people, especially in the new States. Members of large experience in the legislative department of the Government felt called upon to combat the provisions of the bill, antagonizing the processes before recognized in the management of the land question. Gen. Harrison was equal to the emergency, however, and, defending it single handed and alone, he exposed the folly and iniquity of the old system, demonstrating that it could only result to the advantage of the wealthy monopolist, while the hardy and useful population, embracing chiefly those of small means would. necessarily be excluded from the benefits otherwise resulting to the country from the labors bestowed by the interested pioneer settler in the improvement of his homestead. Thus he triumphed in being familiar with the logic of facts applicable to the situation and able to present them with convincing force. The bill was passed and became a law by the ap proval of the President, on the 10th of May, 1800. Through his agency, also, the provision which appropriates the thirty part of each Congressional township, since known as the 16th Section, for the support of schools within the same, became a part of the fundamental law, and may be safely asserted to constitute the commencement of our bene ficent system of common schools.
"As early as 1803, petitions were presented to Congress praying for various improvements or changes in the mode of selling lands, among which the most prominent suggestions were: To sell lands in smaller tracts; to charge no interest on sales; to sell for cash; to reduce the price; and to make grants of small tracts to actual settlers. On the 23d of January, 1804, a report was made in the House of Representatives, recommending the reduction of the size of the tracts, and the sale of quarter-sections in the townships which had before been offered in half-sections, and the sale of half-sections in those which had been offered in whole sections." These provisions with others authorizing the sale of public lands in tracts of eighty and forty acres, eighths and sixteenths of sections, were subsequently enacted, enabling persons of small means, at the prices fixed, to secure homesteads in these Western land districts. The result was a largely increased population of active and enterprising settlers, who, in after years, truly caused "the wilderness to bud and blossom as the rose." The following brief outline of our present eminently practical system of public surveys, copied from Judge Hall's "Notes on the Western States," frequently referred to in these pages, will be found both interesting and valuable:
"All the lands within each district are surveyed before any part is offered for sale,. being actually divided into townships of six miles square, and each of these subdivided into thirty-six sections of one mile square, containing 610 acres each. All the dividing lines run accord ing to the cardinal points, and cross each other at right angles, except where fractional sections are formed by large streams, or by an Indian boundary line.. These sections are again divided into quarter, half- quarter, and quarter-quarter sections, containing 160, 80 and 40 acres respectively, of which the lines are not actually surveyed, but the corners, boundaries and contents are ascertained by fixed rules prescribed by law. This branch of business is conducted under two principal surveyors, who appoint their own deputies. The sections in each town ship are numbered from 1 to 36, the townships are placed in ranges and also numbered. The surveys are founded upon a series of true meridians; the first principal meridian is in Ohio, the second in Indiana, the third in Illinois, etc., each forming the base of a series of surveys, of which the lines are made to correspond, so that the whole country is at last divided into squares of one mile each, and, townships of six miles each, and these subdivisions arranged with mathematical accuracy into parallel ranges."
"This system is as simple, as it is on many accounts peculiarly happy. Disputes in relation to boundaries can seldom occur where the dividing lines can be at all times corrected by the cardinal points; where the same line, being extended throughout the whole region, is not dependent on visible marks or corners, but can readily be ascertained at any moment by calculation and measurement; and where one point, being ascertained, furnishes the basis for an indefinite number of surveys around it. Such lines, too, are easily preserved, and not readily forgotten.
"A vast deal of accurate and useful information is furnished to the public through the medium of this system. The whole surface of the country is actually surveyed and measured. The courses of river and smaller streams are accurately ascertained and measured, through all their meanders. Our maps are, therefore, exact, and the facilities for measuring distances remarkably convenient. Many of the peculiarities of the country discovered, and its resources pointed out, in the course of this minute exploration, and a mass of well-authenticated facts are registered in the proper department, such as the topographer can find in relation to no other country. After the land has been surveyed, districts are laid off, in each of which a land-office is established, and, on a day appointed by the President, the whole of the land is offered at public sale to the highest bidder, but not allowed to be sold below a certain minimum price. Such tracts as are not sold at that time may, at any time afterward, be purchased at the minimum price, at private sale. From all the sales, one thirty-sixth part of the land, being one entire section in each township, is reserved, and given in perpetuity for the support of schools in the township; Section No. 16, which is nearly central in each township, is designated by law for that purpose. In each of the new States and Territories, one entire township, containing 23,040 acres (and in some instances two townships), has been reserved, and given in perpetuity to the State when formed, for the support of seminaries of learning of the highest class; 5 per cent on the amount of the sales within each state is reserved, three-fifths of which is to be expended by Congress in making roads leading to the State, and two-fifths to be expended by such State in the encouragement of learning."
"The business of the land-office in each district is transacted by a Register and a Receiver, by the first of whom the land is sold to individual purchasers, whilej other receives the money. These officers are entirely independent of each other, their duties distinct, arid their responsibilities separate. They are required to keep similar books of account, and to make, respectively, periodical reports to the General Land Office at Washington-the one of his sales, the other of his receipts-so that the offices operate as checks on each other; and, as neither has any pecuniary interest in the fidelity of the other, there is no temptation to collusion. They each keep plats of all the land in their district, sold or unsold, on which each tract is distinctly marked and numbered, so that the purchaser, in making his selection, may examine for himself. No discretion is vested in the land officers in reference to the sale. The purchaser having selected his tract, or as many tracts as he may desire, they have simply to discharge the ministerial duty of receiving the money and granting the evidence of title."U. S. LAND SURVEYS.
A more systematic method of surveys than that before in use in this country was the necessary outgrowth of the change of policy and management of the sales of public lands from those recognized in colonial days. We have already given something of what was then the practice, and the results consequent thereupon. The system of surveys now in use did not at once mature and become a perfect system, nor, indeed, is it now; but, having its origin in the necessities of the times, it was at first little more than an outline of what after necessities brought forth, gradually approaching perfection in conformity with the suggestions of experience. The first departure from the old method, ante-dated somewhat the inauguration of our present form of government, being prescribed by the Congress of the Confederation, on the 20th of May, 1785, and provided for the survey of the "Western Territory." The ordinance defined that said territory should be divided into "townships of six miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing them right angles." This constituted the basis of the present system. Instead of the irregular coast line base of the early colonial system, the due east-and-west base line and standard parallels with the Principal Meridian lines erected thereon, and at right angles therewith, whereby the township and subdivision lines are definitely ascertained and accurately located, was substitued. It was a great improvement upon the former regulations, and forms the out line of all subsequent enactments tending to develop a perfect connected system. On the 18th of May, 1796, the Federal Congress passed the first law on the subject of public surveys, the application of which was to "the territory northwest of the River Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky River," better known as the "Northwestern Territory," afterward granted Territorial rights under special act of Congress.
The following are the provisions of the second section of that act, and applied to such lands as had not already been surveyed or disposed of, requiring that these lands be surveyed " by north-and-south lines run according to the true meridian, and by others crossing them at right angles, so as to form townships six miles square." It was further provided that "one-half of said townships taking them alternately, should be subdivided into sections, containing, as nearly as may be, six hundred and forty acres each, by running parallel lines through the same each way at the end of every two miles, and making a corner on each of said lines at the end of every mile." This was in full accord with the method of disposing of the public lands at that period and before the inauguration of the new system proposed by Gen Harrison, to which reference has already been made, and contained, withal, some of the elements which distinguished the improved system.
On the 10th of May, 1800, by further act of Congress, amendatory of foregoing, it was directed that "the interior lines of townships intersected by the Muskingum and of all townships lying east of that river which had not before been actually subdivided into sections, should also be run and marked in the manner prescribed by the said act for running and making the interior lines of townships directed to be sold in sections of six. hundred and forty acres each.
Whenever the exterior lines of the townships thus to be subdivided, exceeded or fell short of six miles, the excess or deficiency was to be added to or deducted from the western or northern tier of sections. By this act, it was also provided that the northern and western tiers of sections should be sold as containing only the quantity expressed on the plats, and all others as containing the complete legal quantity.
Under the provisions of the first section of the act, approved March 51, 26, 1804, it was made the duty of the Surveyor General to cause the public lands north of the River Ohio, and east of the River Mississippi, to be surveyed in townships six miles square, and divided in the same manner a provided by law in relation to the lands northwest of the River Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky River. Subsequently, a law was passed by Congress, and approved February 11, 1805, contemplating the division of the public domain in tracts suitable for set- tiers of moderate means, which provided for such subdivisions, and established the following principles, upon which the subdivisional boundaries of the public lands should be determined: Section 1 provided that "all the corners marked in the surveys returned by the surveyor should be established as the proper corners of sections or subdivisions of sections which they were intended to designate; and the corners of half and quarter sections not marked on the said surveys, should be placed as nearly as possible equidistant from those two corners which stand on the same line." The second section provides that "The boundary line actually run, and marked in the surveys returned by the surveyors shall be established as the proper boundary lines of the sections or subdivisions for which they were intended; and the length of such lines, as returned by surveyors, shall be held and considered as the true length thereof. And the boundary lines which shall not have been actually run and marked as aforesaid, shall be ascertained by runrnng straight lines from the established corners to the opposite corresponding corners; but, in those portions of the fractional townships in which no such opposite corresponding corners have been or can be fixed, the said boundary lines shall be ascertained by running from the established corners due north-and-south, or east-and-west lines, as the ease may be, to the water course, Indian boundary line, or other external boundary of such fractional township."
Section 3 provides that "each section, or subdivision of section, the contents whereof shall have been, or, by virtue of the first section of this act, shall be, returned by the surveyor shall be held and considered as containing the exact quantity expressed in such return or returns; and the half-sections and quarter-sections, the contents where of shall not be have been returned, shall be held and considered as containing the one-half or the one-fourth part respectively, of the returned contents of the section of which they make a part."
Again, by the act of Congress of February 22, 1817, it was provided that from and after the lst day of September of that year, "in every case of the division of a quarter-section" (of the section designated by numbers 2, 5, 20, 30 and 33), "the partitions shall be made by a line running due north and south."" It will be seen from the last preceding clause that in the subdivision of quarter-sections there were only certain sections in each township which were subject to subdivision by a north-and-south line, making an east half and a west half of such quarter-section; but by a subsequent act, April 24, 1820, it was provided that in every case of the subdivision of a quarter-section," after the 1st of July of that year, "the line for the division thereof shall run north and south, and the corners and contents of half quarter-sections which may thereafter be sold, shall be ascertained in the manner and on the principles directed and prescribed by the second section of the act of Feb 11, 1805."
"An act supplemental to the several laws for the sale of the public lands," approved April 5, 1832, provided that from and after the 1st day of May following "in every case of a subdivision of a half quarter- section" (in all the public lands of the United States), "the lines for the division thereof shall run east and west, and the corners and contents of quarter-quarter sections which may thereafter be sold, shall be ascertained, as nearly as may be, in the manner and on the principles directed and prescribed by the second section of the act of February 11, 1805; and fractional sections containing fewer or more than one hundred and sixty acres shall, in like manner, as nearly as may be prac ticable, be subdivided into quarter-quarter sections, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury."
The system prescribed by the United States Government for the survey of the public lands is known as the "Rectangular System," since the lines bounding given areas are uniformly run at right angles with each other on adjacent sides, and, hence, parallel on opposite sides. The primary divisions recognized in this system are townships, �six miles square, bounded by lines conforming to the cardinal points, and containing, as nearly as may be, 23,040 acres," sections, each "one mile square, containing six hundred and forty acres," or the one-sixth part of a township, except in particular cases, as the interposition of meandered streams, or ancient boundaries; subdivisions of sections into quarters, eighths and sixteenths, containing respectively, one hundred and sixty, eighty and forty acres, which are styled the legal subdivisions, and are the only subdivisions recognized by the Government in disposing of the public lands, except where tracts are made fractional by water courses or other causes 'The lines of these subdivisions are not actually surveyed and marked in the field, but quarter section or half mile posts are established on the boundaries of the sections, and the quarter-quarter corners are by law the equidistant points between the sections and quarter section corners, hence the interior subdivisional lines of sections are only designated on the township plate in the Surveyor General's office, so that, when the boundaries of these subdivisions are re quired to be established on the ground, the County Surveyor, or other competent person, is employed.THE FIELD WORK
"The first or preliminary step taken in making an original survey of the public lands into townships and sections, is to establish Principal Meridians and Base Lines The first is called a Meridian line, because it is run due north and south, and at right angles with the equator or equatorial line, and Principal, because it is made a standard or reference. line for the surveys in a given State or Territory, and numbered first, second, third etc, as it is the first, second or third one established The first one established was that which starts on the Ohio River, "beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami River, and running thence due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada," and, at the time of the approval of the act of Congress of May 7, 1800, "to divide the territory of the United States, northwest of the Ohio, into two separate governments," was designated as the line which should henceforth "become and remain permanently, the boundary line between such State [Ohio] and the Indiana Territory; anything in this act to the contrary notwithstanding." Yet, the first section of that act prescribed "that, from and after the 4th day of July. next, all that part of the territory of the United States, northwest of the Ohio River, which lies to the westward of a line beginning at the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north, until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purposes of temporary government, constitute a separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory," and the surveys of public lands made prior to the admission of Indiana as a separate State, as provided in the fifth section of the foregoing act, were so made with reference to that line as a boundary, the ranges counting west, to that line, from the First Meridian, as will appear by reference to the reports of such surveys and the plats thereof, on file in the office of the Surveyor General. The Second Principal Meridian, and that which is made the reference line in the surveys of lands in Indiana, is located fifteen ranges, or ninety miles, township measure, west. From this meridian, the ranges of townships are numbered east and west, accordingly as they are situated east or west of that line, except those situated west of the First Meridian and east of the temporary territorial line, which was the boundary of the old surveys.
The Base Line, or that upon which the Principal Meridian is erected, may be either the equatorial line or a line drawn parallel with it, and is located with reference to the convenience of the State or Territory interested, in numbering the townships, the largest division known in the public-land system of the United States, which lie north or south of that line. In this State, the base line is established at a point from which townships are numbered from 1 to 8 south, and from 1 to 38 north. As explanatory, therefore, of the means whereby a particular tract of land in Indiana is determined, we first determine the number of the township, whether north or south, which fixes the number of townships, inclusive, from that to the base line; then, the number of the range, whether east or west of the second, or west of the First Principal Meridian. If in a range west of the First Meridian, we know that it lies between the old temporary territorial boundary and the west line of the Ohio; and, if east or west of the Second, we know not only that the township is that many ranges, six miles wide, east or west of the meridian, but that it is also west of the old line just referred to, extending from a point on the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky, to Fort Recovery. These two lines constitute the basis of all public surveys, and are indispensable prerequisites to the laying-out of the townships. Standard Parallels, as they are called, are simply standard lines established either north or south of the base line and parallel with it, and are used as reference or correction lines, from which the surveyor is enabled to make allowance for the convergence of meridians, and thus preserve, as nearly as may be practicable, the square form of the town ship, as prescribed by law. These parallels are run every five town ships or thirty miles north or south of the base line,* and constitute new bases for the townships north of them, up to the next parallel. In surveying and establishing all these principal reference lines, meridians, base lines and standard parallels, for the purpose of securing strict accuracy and to dispense with the uncertainties of magnetic lines, "deputy surveyors are required to use Burt's improved solar, compass or other instrument of equal utility; but, when the needle can be relied upon, the ordinary magnetic compass may be used in subdividing or meandering."
*Prior to 1866, these parallels were run every twenty-four miles nort of the base, and thirty south.
The meridian and base lines having been previously established, and the proper township, section and subdivisional corners located as prescribed in the instructions, the process of surveying and establishing township lines is briefly described as follows: For townships west of the meridian, the surveyor commences his work at the first pre-established township corner on the base line west of the meridian, which will be the southwest corner of Township 1 north, Range 1 west, and runs thence north, on a true meridan line, 480 chains, establishing the section and quarter-section corners, as required by his instructions; at the end of that distance establishing the township corner, which is common to the Townships 1 and 2 north, and Ranges 1 and 2 west. From this point, he runs and measures east on a random line, setting temporary section and quarter-section stakes, to the first township corner north, on the meridian line, and noting the distance at which the eastern boundary is intersected north or south of the true or established corner. Then, making his correction for course, he runs the true line back to the corner from which the random started, measuring west ward, establishing the necessary permanent section and quarter-section corners, and obliterating the temporary posts, throwing the excess or deficiency in measurement on the west end of the line. In case the variance in alignment is more than 3.50 chains north or south of the standard corner on the meridian, he is required by his instructions to retrace his work. The same course of procedure applies to all townships north to No. 5, the north boundary of which intersects the first correction parallel, where the line, having no check by an east-and-west alignment and measurement, intersects the parallel at a point, if the line has been accurately run, seventy-six links east of the standard corner, the amount of actual convergence of meridian lines. A corner is established at this point of intersection, called a closing corner. On the east of the meridian, the process is the same, except that the work commences at a first township corner east, and the random lines measured west, instead of east, as before, and the true line east, throwing the excess over, or the deficiency under, 480 chains, on the west end of the line.
When the township lines have been ran, the next step is to subdivide or sectionize the townships and, by a regulation of the Land Department of the Government, the same Deputy who established the township lines is not permitted to subdivide that township into sections, for the obvious reason that errors or imperfections in work are more likely to be detected by another. This regulation has not always been in force, or, at least, has not always been enforced literally. These lines may be run by a standard needle instrument properly adjusted. Before proceeding, it is the duty of the surveyor, with such an instrument, to make correction of his magnetic variation, so as to conform to the township work, and compare his chaining with the original measure merits. "For this purpose, he is required to retrace the first mile, both of the south and east boundaries of each township, and any discrepancy, either in the variation or chaining, must be noted in the field-book."
Having thus complied with the prescribed regulations, he will begin at the first mile or section corner, west on the south boundry common to Sections 35 and 36; thence running due north forty chains, he establishes a quarter-section corner, and continues his course to the end of eighty chains, establishing there a corner common to Sections 25, 26, 35, 36. From this point, he runs a random line due east, setting a temporary quarter-section post at the end of forty chains, and continues his alignment without "blazing;" to the eastern boundary, which, in this instance, is the township line. "If the township line is intersected exactly at the section-corner thereon, the random may be blazed back and established as the true line, but, if the random strikes the boundary either north or south of the section-corner, the distance of the point of intersection from said corner must be measured and noted, and a course calculated that will run a true line from the section-corner on the boundary, back to� the section-corner last started from. "The permanent quarter-section corner must be established on the true line, at a point equidistant from the two section-corners, according to the requirements of law, and the temporary post on the random should be pulled up." Thus he proceeds with each section to the closing section on the north. From the corner of Sections 1, 2, 11 and 12, a random line is run due north, between Sections 1 and 2, to the north boundary of the township. "If the random does not close exactly on the section-corner pre-established, the distance of the intersection from said corner must be measured and noted, and a course calculated that will run a true line south to the corner from which the random started, the same as randoms east, except that the permanent quarter-section corner must be planted exactly forty chanins from the interior section corner, thereby throwing the excess or deficiency in meas urement on the last half-mile, according to law." The first tier of sections being thus completed, the. surveyor next commences at the corner on the south side of the township, between Sections 34 and 35, and proceeds with the second tier as with the first, then with the third, fourth and fifth in like manner "In surveying the fifth section-line, between the fifth and sixth tiers of sections, not only an east random line is run between the sections, but a random must also be run due west to the range line, and corrected back the same as between sections in the first tier, except that the permanent quarter-section corner must be established exactly forty chains from the interior section-corner, as required on the north boundary, throwing the excess or deficiency of measurement upon the last half-mile or outside quarter section That portion of this last regulation which refers to the running true or corrected lines intersecting the township lines north and west, has not always been observed; for the in retracing the work of early surveys, will not unfrequently find that closing corners have been established, thus making, on the township lines, corners representing the sections, both on the north and on the south, the former as standard corners, and the latter as correction corners. All lines and corners thus established, by the laws of the United States under which they were so established, are unchangeable This regulation is made necessary, since, in the experience of the past, it has been found, that, without such a provision, a fruitful source of litigation and vexatious annoyance would exist among land owners holding title under patent from the United States, as well as to others acquiring title by subsequent conveyance. Inasmuch, therefore, as these surveys were originally made under and in conformity with the laws of the United States, the National Government then holding the title, the boundaries and corners so established, are recognized as forming the basis of all subsequent subdivisions, notwithstanding the corners connecting boundary lines and the lines themselves, may have been established out of their proper positions The reason is obvious. The Government having sold to purchasers, prescribing those lines and corners as true, would be bound to protect those purchasers in their rights To preserve these rights, therefore, the following rules are established:
"1st Whenever one or more of the original corners of a section was established out of place, the area of every legal subdivision in said section is affected thereby, that is, some of the subdivisions will contain more than the regular quantity, and others will contain less It will be useless for the surveyor, when called upon to subdivide a section, where one of the original corners was established out of line or out of measure, to attempt to make such a division as will give an equal area to even two of the subdivisions, it cannot be done with out violating the rules prescribed by Congress in such cases.
"2d The original section and quarter-section corners established by the Government Surveyor, must stand as the true corners which: they were intended to represent. This is true whether the corners be in place or not.
"3d. The quarter-quarter corners not established by the Deputy Surveyor, must be planted equidistant, and on line between the quarter-post and the section-corner.
"4th. All the subdivisional lines of a section must be straight lines running from the proper corner in one exterior line to its corresponding corner in the opposite boundary of the section. There is no exception to this rule.
"5th. In fractional sections, where no opposite corresponding corner has been or can be established, any required subdivision line of. such section must be run from the proper original corner in the boundary line, due east and west, or north and south, as the case may be, to the water-course, Indian reservation or other exterior boundary of said fractional section." (Pages 38-43)
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