I'm always stumbling across cool factoids from time to time:
1. The New Madrid Land Claims: As chronicled before on the blog, the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 left a path of destruction that reverberated throughout the United States. Families took stake along the fault and were now facing not only the destruction of this earthquake but the fears of the future. So, land owners were allowed to relocate for free. The relocation had its stipulations, but it allowed for land owners to get an equal amount of land (well up to 640 acres and if you owned less than 160 you could get up to 160 acres).
http://www.cosl.org/history/saline.aspx
The rest of the website has many interesting tidbits like the 16th section of every township being reserved for schools, the creation of internal improvement laws, and various other laws based that impacted how land was surveyed and sold.
2. Want to read about the pristine land of Wisconsin? Here are "all" of the original surveyor notes from the federal GLO surveyors who staked out the PLSS from the 1830s to 1860s. http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/SurveyNotes/Search.html
The National Museum of Surveying in Springfield, Illinois - A Blog mixing history, science, museum news, and a unique point of view to bring the world to you as you have never seen.
National Museum of Surveying Website
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Surveying the Movies
Try to think of how many times you've seen a surveyor, actually taken a conscious note that this person was a surveyor. Now think how many times you have seen surveying or surveyors in a movie. Don't worry if you are like me it's There Will Be Blood and that's it. Luckily, John Brock is on the scene. He has created a collection of papers, presentations and databases of all the movies that have surveyors or surveying in them to some degree.
In order of publication, here are the papers. Each movie has an annotated database with a score system on how large of a role surveying has:
1. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/37426216/SUPERSTAR-SURVEYING-HOLLYWOOD-STYLE-__-_III_
2. http://www.fig.net/pub/jakarta/papers/ts_24/ts_24_2_brock.pdf
3. http://www.fig.net/pub/fig2009/papers/hs03/hs03_brock_3234.pdf
4. The complete list: http://ida.dk/sites/ddl/Documents/movielist.pdf
A few other articles:
1. http://www.geomatik.ch/fileadmin/download/2008/Fach/FA_12_2008_5.pdf
Like those tests on Facebook and Myspace, I'm going to see how many surveyors I've sighted in my movie watching career.
1. The Great Escape: A great movie, and a movie whose central error is a surveying mistake. Cavendish, I believe the choir leader, made a miscalculation that resulted in the capture of the officers. Watch the movie to find out the fate, as the movie is called the Great Escape :).
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark: A surveyor duel between Ford and Nazis went entirely over my head. Then again the entire movie went over my head. Just don't get how this is a good movie. In fact, Godwin's law should be reason enough to retire these stale references.
3. The Ghost and the Darkness: I remember a lot of these scenes, as this was one of my favorite movies for a long time. It is so devastating. Then you can go to Chicago and see the real lions. A truly eerie experience especially when you realize they were trying to build a bridge the entire time. Granted we have to deal with distracted drivers, so what is more dangerous hungry, murderous lions or distracted drivers? Safety though has always been a concern for surveyors. What you need saved from though depends on the context?
4. Death Wish: Saw this. Never realized the surveying connection in this movie. I won't ruin it for you. I don't want anyone to get inspired.
5. The English Patient: The surveying role was about as boring as the movie. In fact, I think an entire movie about two people surveying would have had better pace.
6. The Color Purple: Love, love the book. One of the best books ever wrote. I have never seen the movie as there is no way it can hold up to the book. The role of the road in Africa is heartbreaking in the book. Reminds me of Things Fall Apart and the incoming of white people. To me this is what researching the history of surveying is all about. The agency behind everyone involved. You have the weight of authority battling the weight of agency. You have the confrontation of ideals. You really have the physical, legal and moral demarcation of lines when you survey. Alice Walker captured that. No movie can capture that. Well I shouldn't say that as I haven't seen this movie.
7. Blazing Saddles: Right from the beginning we see another issue of power. The surveyors say this. Foreman say this. The African-American say this. Needless to say, the African-Americans are the one forced to test out the white man's folly. Who was railroaded now?
8. How the West Was Won: Apparently much like in history books, there is a passing mention of surveying. I'm perplexed at how a movie about the development of the West and railroads could only briefly mention surveying. However, that is the lot of surveying currently. Really the history would be dominated by surveyors and everyone would be talking about it, which in fact is one of the problems I think for surveying history. Like a lot of things that were everyday and mundane it would escape mentioning or escape the eyes of early documentarians.
9. Pitch Black: This movie gets at our attempt at dreaming up the future of surveying. While we might never actually make it past our solar system, the real question is as we go farther out how do we quantify it all and how do we own it. It is the in thing to own things. Perhaps space could be a new frontier in that regards. Still though, surveyors will have to describe planets, perhaps lay out grids and systems and help conduct scientific research. Diesel finds such a reference in the movie. I missed it during the movie, but then again it was all way too dark.
10. Heist: Like John Brown, Gene Hackman tried to cover up his illegalities by posing as a surveyor. The movie was all right, but all I really remember is the plan didn't go to well and seemingly lots of bright orange. That was probably the give away.
11. The World is Not Enough: Vaguely remember this movie. Barely remember Bond's desire to check out the survey marks. I don't think it was survey marks he was checking out though. Does introduce the topic of surveyors and oil though. What a constant job that is. In fact, the interesting question will be with greener energy what happens to all of these pipelines, land that only exists because of oil and all those jobs.
12. Goin' South: A lost and now popular Nicholson classic. The role of the surveyor is in the peeping time variety, as the surveyor watches Jack's girl in the river. He used the lame excuse of surveying peaks I'm sure.
14. About Schmidt: My favorite Nicholson movie for some weird reason. Never saw the surveyors in the background, but then again that's the point of the movie. Nothing is in focus. Really though, how often in our life have surveyors been there but we never noticed?
15. Once Upon a Time in the West: Long movie that pales in comparison to Eastwood's classics. I guess some background scenes include surveyors. Most of all, we are treated with official frontier surveying seeing one of the characters walk out official lines for a building.
16. 3:10 To Yuma: Another scene lost to scenery.
17. There Will Be Blood: This movie brings it all together for me. One of the best movies of all time. The movie shows the dangers of using surveying to fit your own means. Those pesky property lines get in the way of complete dominance. The famous milkshake scene in essence is why we have surveyors and why we have property lines. It also shows how tenuous and intangible those lines really are.
In order of publication, here are the papers. Each movie has an annotated database with a score system on how large of a role surveying has:
1. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/37426216/SUPERSTAR-SURVEYING-HOLLYWOOD-STYLE-__-_III_
2. http://www.fig.net/pub/jakarta/papers/ts_24/ts_24_2_brock.pdf
3. http://www.fig.net/pub/fig2009/papers/hs03/hs03_brock_3234.pdf
4. The complete list: http://ida.dk/sites/ddl/Documents/movielist.pdf
A few other articles:
1. http://www.geomatik.ch/fileadmin/download/2008/Fach/FA_12_2008_5.pdf
Like those tests on Facebook and Myspace, I'm going to see how many surveyors I've sighted in my movie watching career.
1. The Great Escape: A great movie, and a movie whose central error is a surveying mistake. Cavendish, I believe the choir leader, made a miscalculation that resulted in the capture of the officers. Watch the movie to find out the fate, as the movie is called the Great Escape :).
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark: A surveyor duel between Ford and Nazis went entirely over my head. Then again the entire movie went over my head. Just don't get how this is a good movie. In fact, Godwin's law should be reason enough to retire these stale references.
3. The Ghost and the Darkness: I remember a lot of these scenes, as this was one of my favorite movies for a long time. It is so devastating. Then you can go to Chicago and see the real lions. A truly eerie experience especially when you realize they were trying to build a bridge the entire time. Granted we have to deal with distracted drivers, so what is more dangerous hungry, murderous lions or distracted drivers? Safety though has always been a concern for surveyors. What you need saved from though depends on the context?
4. Death Wish: Saw this. Never realized the surveying connection in this movie. I won't ruin it for you. I don't want anyone to get inspired.
5. The English Patient: The surveying role was about as boring as the movie. In fact, I think an entire movie about two people surveying would have had better pace.
6. The Color Purple: Love, love the book. One of the best books ever wrote. I have never seen the movie as there is no way it can hold up to the book. The role of the road in Africa is heartbreaking in the book. Reminds me of Things Fall Apart and the incoming of white people. To me this is what researching the history of surveying is all about. The agency behind everyone involved. You have the weight of authority battling the weight of agency. You have the confrontation of ideals. You really have the physical, legal and moral demarcation of lines when you survey. Alice Walker captured that. No movie can capture that. Well I shouldn't say that as I haven't seen this movie.
7. Blazing Saddles: Right from the beginning we see another issue of power. The surveyors say this. Foreman say this. The African-American say this. Needless to say, the African-Americans are the one forced to test out the white man's folly. Who was railroaded now?
8. How the West Was Won: Apparently much like in history books, there is a passing mention of surveying. I'm perplexed at how a movie about the development of the West and railroads could only briefly mention surveying. However, that is the lot of surveying currently. Really the history would be dominated by surveyors and everyone would be talking about it, which in fact is one of the problems I think for surveying history. Like a lot of things that were everyday and mundane it would escape mentioning or escape the eyes of early documentarians.
9. Pitch Black: This movie gets at our attempt at dreaming up the future of surveying. While we might never actually make it past our solar system, the real question is as we go farther out how do we quantify it all and how do we own it. It is the in thing to own things. Perhaps space could be a new frontier in that regards. Still though, surveyors will have to describe planets, perhaps lay out grids and systems and help conduct scientific research. Diesel finds such a reference in the movie. I missed it during the movie, but then again it was all way too dark.
10. Heist: Like John Brown, Gene Hackman tried to cover up his illegalities by posing as a surveyor. The movie was all right, but all I really remember is the plan didn't go to well and seemingly lots of bright orange. That was probably the give away.
11. The World is Not Enough: Vaguely remember this movie. Barely remember Bond's desire to check out the survey marks. I don't think it was survey marks he was checking out though. Does introduce the topic of surveyors and oil though. What a constant job that is. In fact, the interesting question will be with greener energy what happens to all of these pipelines, land that only exists because of oil and all those jobs.
12. Goin' South: A lost and now popular Nicholson classic. The role of the surveyor is in the peeping time variety, as the surveyor watches Jack's girl in the river. He used the lame excuse of surveying peaks I'm sure.
14. About Schmidt: My favorite Nicholson movie for some weird reason. Never saw the surveyors in the background, but then again that's the point of the movie. Nothing is in focus. Really though, how often in our life have surveyors been there but we never noticed?
15. Once Upon a Time in the West: Long movie that pales in comparison to Eastwood's classics. I guess some background scenes include surveyors. Most of all, we are treated with official frontier surveying seeing one of the characters walk out official lines for a building.
16. 3:10 To Yuma: Another scene lost to scenery.
17. There Will Be Blood: This movie brings it all together for me. One of the best movies of all time. The movie shows the dangers of using surveying to fit your own means. Those pesky property lines get in the way of complete dominance. The famous milkshake scene in essence is why we have surveyors and why we have property lines. It also shows how tenuous and intangible those lines really are.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Telling the Surveying Story Using Video
YouTube is a great educational source, along with a great source for killing time. So next time you got some time to kill, why not kill it watching some videos about surveying? Even better, I'm going to attempt to construct a story using the videos, as I have time to kill.
The first video is actually one part of a series of videos from the Bureau of Land Management. While it is a 13 part series, the parts are short, very dense segments exhibiting the best of short story telling. The segments tell the history of the BLM and what it meant to the development of the United States. My favorite segment is:
We start with this video because it shows the why behind it all. It will set up the rest of the videos.
So while the museum's focus is on American history, we need to reach back into history to show how the profession of surveying started and developed. This video is about the Roman groma and how to use it. The first surveyors were in Egypt, but the Roman surveyors left their mark on all of Europe and this is how they did it. The groma is also the first surveying instrument. While there are many videos on the subject, I prefer this one due to the gentleman's passion:
The first video is actually one part of a series of videos from the Bureau of Land Management. While it is a 13 part series, the parts are short, very dense segments exhibiting the best of short story telling. The segments tell the history of the BLM and what it meant to the development of the United States. My favorite segment is:
We start with this video because it shows the why behind it all. It will set up the rest of the videos.
So while the museum's focus is on American history, we need to reach back into history to show how the profession of surveying started and developed. This video is about the Roman groma and how to use it. The first surveyors were in Egypt, but the Roman surveyors left their mark on all of Europe and this is how they did it. The groma is also the first surveying instrument. While there are many videos on the subject, I prefer this one due to the gentleman's passion:
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Surveying the Battle of Shiloh
At 4 am, prior to the
first attack, S.H. Lockett, Chief Engineer of Bragg's army and Lt. Steel of
Tennessee went out to reconnoiter the enemy camp for the battle that
would be Shiloh. Lt. S.M. Steel, a Confederate, had two things going for him.
He had performed reconnaissance of several Federal camps. Perhaps more important
for the Confederates, he was a civil engineer/surveyor in Tennessee. The two
were so skillful that they were able to "get two rods from a sleepy
sentinel." While scoping out the camp, battle rang out and S.H. Lockett took
a high post to examine the troop formations. Seeing a possible disadvantage,
Lockett sketched a map of the battlefield and sent it to Bragg through the
courier system. The Generals took his sketch and notes into account evidenced
by their securing the right flank.
Within this
description from S.H. Lockett featured in Hearts Touched by Fire, we see the
role of the engineer/surveyor. A commanding officer and competent
locals/regulars were sent out to scout the area. Seeing the formations and
layout of the battlefield, the head engineer would sketch maps and send the
results through a courier system back to the Generals. Within the story, you
sense that the generals didn't immediately take the sketches into account and
only acted when Lockett himself reported to the bivouac to personally register
his thoughts. A common thread is the devaluation of pre-battlefield
maps. Nonetheless, often these pre-battlefield or during battle sketches played
an important role.
The most important maps were often the
post-battlefield maps, as they were both an accurate look at the battlefield
and an accurate look at the mind of generals. Case in point, Sherman's
postbattle map of Shiloh. He tried to cover a mistake or discrepancy by making
regiments seem closer together. This is a vastly important story because it
shows the power of these maps. It also shows the quality of mapping during the
Civil War.
Even Lt. Colonel James McPherson's
expert advice on positioning would not be heeded from time to time. Yet,
mapping was an integral part to the Federal advantage and the Confederates
scrambling to get on par. The Union out mapped the Confederacy by a wide
margin. As the war marched on the gulf between mapping abilities and quality
seemingly widened (even if the Confederacy would obtain or catch up in
technology).
Some of the
"distinguished" soldiers during the Battle of Shiloh also had
connection to surveying. Future General Andrew Hickenlooper was a surveyor and
engineer in Ohio. Prior to the Civil War, Hickenlooper, based in Cincinnati,
was a partner in an engineering/surveying firm, owned his own company, became a
city surveyor and a government surveyor in Michigan. After the war, he
reentered surveying but quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder. The
most amazing story is how when fighting in the Hornet's Nest, the famous part
of the Battle of Shiloh, he ran into his father. His father had enlisted to be
near his son. The name Hornet's Nest was a name given later by perhaps mapmaker
Leon Fremaux in 1862. The name Hornet's Nest was a name given by the
Confederates, and he memorialized it forever on a map. Mapmakers gave the names
to a startling number of the places we know by heart. The only two named
institutions around Shiloh were the church and Pittsburgh Landing.
There was John Wesley Powell who lost
his arm at Shiloh who would go on to be a great explorer, Everett Peabody,
Jeremy Francis Gilmer, James McPherson and Ambrose Bierce. Bierce has been talked about before, but perhaps the biggest man of note is Jeremy Francis Gilmer. Wounded in Shiloh, he would go to be the head of the Engineers for the Confederacy. Charleston and Atlanta held as strong as they did because of his work. So many states and historians rely on Gilmer's work during the Civil War for both local histories and Civil War histories. Just google Gilmer and his maps. Ambrose has been detailed in previous posts. So many surveyors fought in the war and so many soldiers used surveying to help their side that I'm too constrained to cover them all.
Years after the battle, the
United States sent a team to map an accurate topographical rendering of the
battlefield. We have a copy of that map finished in 1905. This process is still
being undertaken today, as GIS specialists and surveyors are mapping the
battlefields. To understand motives and reactions of soldiers and generals, one
has to see the lay of the land or see the lack of knowledge in regards to the
lay of the land.
I always have a
moral dilemma when writing about any war. I hate war. I believe that just
writing about it helps romanticize it, which in turn legitimizes it. Also, the
actors deserve all the respect we give them and more. They died and fought for
an ideal, a very noble cause. Yet, it is sad that these actors found themselves
in a position where guns were the answer. War is a complex thing and it is a
part of our history. Without war, the American ideals wouldn't exist or be
fully instituted. So that is my bias. I can't escape it.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Tales of a Visitor
We always love when visitors stop by who have an equal or greater passion for surveying history. As just two guys, we can't learn everything. We rely on fun stories from guests to fill in our blanks. So today's honorary historian is Michael D. Eshleman, Attorney-at-law from Kings Mills, Ohio.
With a slant toward the sublime being our natural predilection, I ate up the stories about Correctionville, Iowa and College Corner, Ohio.
In Flatness and Other Landscapes, a superbly lyrical take on the land, Michael Martone describes why Correctionville would make a great CBS Sunday Morning segment. Read his take for fantasy, read mine for bare bone reality. Correctionville was a town founded on the correction line between Ida and Woodberry. When the original federal surveyors were establishing survey townships, they were placing squares on a sphere. To account for the curvature of the Earth, every 24 miles, the crew would reestablish the baseline, the East-West baseline. This reestablishment was the correction line. So the crew would jog over and start anew.
Within this jog, Correctionville was established. Now their tagline is Jog down our main street. This is because 5th street runs along the east-west line and Driftwood Street (I guess Main is Driftwood or Main is different) "runs north-south through Union township until hitting 5th street. Driftwood then jobs to the west until realigning with Kedron and Rock township." Lots of Iowa history books say every 60 miles surveyors made a correction line. I have been taught standard practice was 24 miles, and that there was some case of 30 miles.
College Corner, Ohio is another oddity caused by border lines. There is technically West College Corner, Indiana and College Corner, Ohio. Why such an oddity and two towns? The Ohio-Indiana border go right through the middle of town. In fact, it goes right through the middle of the gym. One side of the gym is in Ohio and one side is in Indiana. Michael told the story that is featured in Indiana Curiosities how before Indiana adopted Daylight Savings Time, it would take an hour for a full court shot to make it or an hour to bring the ball up!
My favorite joke is in Indiana Curiosities and it says while bringing the ball up the court, there is no foul for traveling as you cross half court, the state border. Dick Wolfsie, the author, talks about how the locals claim there was a tavern on the state border line and there used to be two different drinking ages. Porky's what? College Corner Ohio is in College Township, the township that was reserved for Miami University in 1810. The unique features of these two towns did make a Bill Geist segment.
Michael also regaled me about the Symmes Purchase in Ohio, the confluence of three survey systems and the tale of Warren County. In 1785 when the PLSS ordiance passed, the PLSS system started in Ohio. The problem for Ohio was not all the kinks were worked out. Plus you had existing land claims partitioning up the state. One such claim was the Symmes Purchase. Symmes owned up to 300,000 to one million acres of land between the Miamis. Symmes was responsible for hiring his own surveyors and laying .
Symmes doesn't seem to be too responsible of a guy. His surveyors forgot the bare basics of surveying, that you lay lines off true north. His main surveyor was Israel Ludlow. Ludlow drew an east-west baseline between the Miamis on the most southern part of the rivers, creating a serious of fractional townships below the baseline. Ludlow then drew only magnetic meridians off the baseline and was naturally instructed not to tie the east-west line into a nice rectangle. The new land owners would have to foot the bill to tie in the rest of the boundary line. So when the surveyors came in to lay out the rectangular system, the surveyors laid lines off of magnetic north without having a true initial point.
Such a screwy system makes for a weird description of land. So screwy in fact that the Symmes survey system is the only place in the United States were townships run east and west, rather than north and south, and the ranges run north and south, instead of east and west. Plus, the ranges, or north and south, are based off the baseline and land deeds/descriptions just call full townships Range 1, Range 2, etc... When new landowners brought out surveyors to finish off the east-west lines, there was commonly 15-20 chains worth of error. Congress and Symmes tried to fix a system so blatantly in defiance of the PLSS, but eventually, the law that was passed said the original corners are the true corners.
To make matters worse, he forgot that he didn't own certain land that he sold. Those who bought were surprised to find out they were squatters. He also sold land more than once, which most have been awkward for the first settlers.
Right to the east of the Symmes Purchase was the Virginia Military Tract, a tract of land that was surveyed under the metes and bounds. Even with all the problems of the Symmes Purchase and survey, Congress saw the inherent benefits of this new rectangular system. They knew that there couldn't be any large land sales and that the system had to be established first. Plus, it established an important practice of once claims were made on survey corners, those corners were set. A truly remarkable notion.
Awesome collection of maps for Warren County: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohwarren/maps/1867map.htm
So basically in this area of Ohio you have the metes and bounds, Symmes system and then to the west of Symmes the true PLSS system. Of course northeast of all this is the five mile township system, but stay with me here. Without vetting it, counties like Warren County Ohio have three survey systems. Amazing! Even better every county in Ohio had to be 400 square miles (I believe), and so places like Warren and Clinton County were always been lengthened or shortened. Fun stuff. I'll look into the county stuff more in the future.
A few other stories were told, but one I will look into is the role of the County Engineer in Ohio. In fact, this would be a great book in of itself, a look at the Surveyor Generals, county surveyors and the likes in the development of America. Different states and territories had different rules. Even counties could be completely different experiences. In essence, County Engineers in Ohio have to be both a licensed surveyor and a licensed engineer.
Sources:
http://books.google.com/books?id=mVCfkE38VhAC&pg=PA158&dq=correctionville+iowa&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CAp_T779EZGQ8wSY2pnNBw&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=correctionville%20iowa&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=BgUcucp3NvUC&pg=PA18&dq=Correctionville&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QBB_T6CgJoWO8wSCrODjBw&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAjgo#v=onepage&q=Correctionville&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=he1H22CfdoMC&pg=PA168&dq=College+Corner+Ohio&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XhB_T6THIo-y8ASZyZW3Bw&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=College%20Corner%20Ohio&f=false
http://www.surveyhistory.org/symmes_purchase.htm
With a slant toward the sublime being our natural predilection, I ate up the stories about Correctionville, Iowa and College Corner, Ohio.
In Flatness and Other Landscapes, a superbly lyrical take on the land, Michael Martone describes why Correctionville would make a great CBS Sunday Morning segment. Read his take for fantasy, read mine for bare bone reality. Correctionville was a town founded on the correction line between Ida and Woodberry. When the original federal surveyors were establishing survey townships, they were placing squares on a sphere. To account for the curvature of the Earth, every 24 miles, the crew would reestablish the baseline, the East-West baseline. This reestablishment was the correction line. So the crew would jog over and start anew.
Within this jog, Correctionville was established. Now their tagline is Jog down our main street. This is because 5th street runs along the east-west line and Driftwood Street (I guess Main is Driftwood or Main is different) "runs north-south through Union township until hitting 5th street. Driftwood then jobs to the west until realigning with Kedron and Rock township." Lots of Iowa history books say every 60 miles surveyors made a correction line. I have been taught standard practice was 24 miles, and that there was some case of 30 miles.
College Corner, Ohio is another oddity caused by border lines. There is technically West College Corner, Indiana and College Corner, Ohio. Why such an oddity and two towns? The Ohio-Indiana border go right through the middle of town. In fact, it goes right through the middle of the gym. One side of the gym is in Ohio and one side is in Indiana. Michael told the story that is featured in Indiana Curiosities how before Indiana adopted Daylight Savings Time, it would take an hour for a full court shot to make it or an hour to bring the ball up!
My favorite joke is in Indiana Curiosities and it says while bringing the ball up the court, there is no foul for traveling as you cross half court, the state border. Dick Wolfsie, the author, talks about how the locals claim there was a tavern on the state border line and there used to be two different drinking ages. Porky's what? College Corner Ohio is in College Township, the township that was reserved for Miami University in 1810. The unique features of these two towns did make a Bill Geist segment.
Michael also regaled me about the Symmes Purchase in Ohio, the confluence of three survey systems and the tale of Warren County. In 1785 when the PLSS ordiance passed, the PLSS system started in Ohio. The problem for Ohio was not all the kinks were worked out. Plus you had existing land claims partitioning up the state. One such claim was the Symmes Purchase. Symmes owned up to 300,000 to one million acres of land between the Miamis. Symmes was responsible for hiring his own surveyors and laying .
Symmes doesn't seem to be too responsible of a guy. His surveyors forgot the bare basics of surveying, that you lay lines off true north. His main surveyor was Israel Ludlow. Ludlow drew an east-west baseline between the Miamis on the most southern part of the rivers, creating a serious of fractional townships below the baseline. Ludlow then drew only magnetic meridians off the baseline and was naturally instructed not to tie the east-west line into a nice rectangle. The new land owners would have to foot the bill to tie in the rest of the boundary line. So when the surveyors came in to lay out the rectangular system, the surveyors laid lines off of magnetic north without having a true initial point.
Such a screwy system makes for a weird description of land. So screwy in fact that the Symmes survey system is the only place in the United States were townships run east and west, rather than north and south, and the ranges run north and south, instead of east and west. Plus, the ranges, or north and south, are based off the baseline and land deeds/descriptions just call full townships Range 1, Range 2, etc... When new landowners brought out surveyors to finish off the east-west lines, there was commonly 15-20 chains worth of error. Congress and Symmes tried to fix a system so blatantly in defiance of the PLSS, but eventually, the law that was passed said the original corners are the true corners.
To make matters worse, he forgot that he didn't own certain land that he sold. Those who bought were surprised to find out they were squatters. He also sold land more than once, which most have been awkward for the first settlers.
Right to the east of the Symmes Purchase was the Virginia Military Tract, a tract of land that was surveyed under the metes and bounds. Even with all the problems of the Symmes Purchase and survey, Congress saw the inherent benefits of this new rectangular system. They knew that there couldn't be any large land sales and that the system had to be established first. Plus, it established an important practice of once claims were made on survey corners, those corners were set. A truly remarkable notion.
Awesome collection of maps for Warren County: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohwarren/maps/1867map.htm
So basically in this area of Ohio you have the metes and bounds, Symmes system and then to the west of Symmes the true PLSS system. Of course northeast of all this is the five mile township system, but stay with me here. Without vetting it, counties like Warren County Ohio have three survey systems. Amazing! Even better every county in Ohio had to be 400 square miles (I believe), and so places like Warren and Clinton County were always been lengthened or shortened. Fun stuff. I'll look into the county stuff more in the future.
A few other stories were told, but one I will look into is the role of the County Engineer in Ohio. In fact, this would be a great book in of itself, a look at the Surveyor Generals, county surveyors and the likes in the development of America. Different states and territories had different rules. Even counties could be completely different experiences. In essence, County Engineers in Ohio have to be both a licensed surveyor and a licensed engineer.
Sources:
http://books.google.com/books?id=mVCfkE38VhAC&pg=PA158&dq=correctionville+iowa&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CAp_T779EZGQ8wSY2pnNBw&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=correctionville%20iowa&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=BgUcucp3NvUC&pg=PA18&dq=Correctionville&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QBB_T6CgJoWO8wSCrODjBw&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAjgo#v=onepage&q=Correctionville&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=he1H22CfdoMC&pg=PA168&dq=College+Corner+Ohio&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XhB_T6THIo-y8ASZyZW3Bw&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=College%20Corner%20Ohio&f=false
http://www.surveyhistory.org/symmes_purchase.htm
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Warning about Posts For March 29
Warning! Every post on March 29 is not a finished post. I have had a bunch of questions I've been looking at, but I've just hadn't had the time to fully develop each thought. I'm hoping others out there can fill in the blanks. This is just a small collection of half finished posts.
Countries having border disputes!
Tanzania and Kenya: The trouble is here a disappearance of boundary beacons and a knowingly disregard for them to begin with. The law states that on the Kenyan side there should be a 20 meter buffer zone and on the Tanzanian side a 10 meter buffer zone. SO the question is where is the border when the beacons disappear and where is the buffer zone when there is not set borders. One could say let’s wait for a survey or builders can just build over the line. This is mainly farmers who are expanding their farms. http://allafrica.com/stories/201202130434.html
Thailand and Cambodia: Currently there is Joint Boundary Commission, much like the one that decided our southern border and Mexico’s northern border. Two surveyors, one from each country, are heading the commission. The countries share a 798km border with 73 pillars. Of the 73 pillars, 48 pillars have been surveyed. Yet the two sides only agree on 33 of them. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/279532/border-dispute-talks-back-on-track
In January, India and China signed a resolution detailing the plan of action in resolving their disputed Himalayan border. The pact is full of diplomatic speak with the main point being that there is an agreement to perhaps establish a joint committee to manage the border. This is after 15 previous meetings and a war in 1962.
The saddest example is between Sudan and South Sudan. The two sides haven’t agreed on the final borders.
North Carolina and South Carolina: While we have been focusing on other countries and while we could assume that our borders are set, just ask NC and SC about their borders. On the East Coast, surveying is based on the metes and bounds system, or trees. Long story short, these trees that were set in the beginnings of the country are no longer there. http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/02/11/2654932/carolinas-border-tweaked.html
A great paper on all the Latin American border disputes.
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