source: http://www.ak.blm.gov/ak920/zink.html
copied here for safekeeping
2/21/95
ABSTRACT: It is written, "If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved but only as one escaping through the flames." The Public Land Survey System is the foundation for more land transactions and area than any other system in the United States. It has been tested with the fire of time and efficient practicality for over 200 years and yet it remains, being shown for what it is. It has survived and thrived as the premier system ever devised, acting as the equitable foundation, insuring the domestic tranquility of our society.
The history of Cadastral Surveys and surveyors have a long, colorful and meanderous past. In ancient Egypt, the Pharaohs realized that the life of their rule, the safety of the domestic tranquility, the uniform rule of their subjects and the strength order of their society rested in first creating, defining and marking the boundaries in order to maintain the resources under their rule. It followed, therefore, that he ordered surveys of the Nile River Valley after the river's annual flood cycle. The surveys were executed via complex triangulation systems from the plateaus and mesas overlooking the valley. The purpose of the surveys were for taxation, the common defense, stabilizing commerce and to avoid transient locations of boundaries. This in turn related to a more stable and harmonious co-existence. In fact, the word "Cadastral" derives its meaning from the root-word "Cadastre," meaning "An official register of the quantity, value, and ownership of real estate used in apportioning taxes." The Hebrews of the Old Testament also realized the need for reliable monumentation of boundaries in order to accommodate large tribes of people and to provide for the general welfare of its nation. In the Pentateuch of the ancient Mosaic texts, it is written, "Do not remove the ancient boundary stone or encroach onto the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; He will take up their case against you." This was, in effect, a portion of the earliest "Survey Law" known to man.
Since that time, many great surveyors and mathmeticians such as Eratosthenes, Pythagoras, Prince Henry the Navigator, Snell, Ptolemy, and more recently, Sherman, Ellicot, Rittenhouse, Hutchins, Putnam, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, have contributed to, and defined the science and art of Cadastral Surveying over the centuries.
Many of the Mosaic Laws and Christian philosophies were carried into the "New World of the Americas" when the English Pilgrims developed their society at Plymouth. This foundation of philosophies, coupled and intertwined with equitable considerations (justice} "for the common defense and general welfare", were the common thread the Revolutionaries carried with them into the newly created United States following the Revolutionary war. It was into this backdrop which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson entered onto the stage after a newly emerging and defining moment in American History.
A core of New Americans emerged from the cocoon, metamorphosising away from British oppression and into the rarified atmosphere o freedom. These New Americans became the tempered steel, molded in the fiery furnace of practicality and necessity, From that primordial form, sparked to life "the Declaration, engrossed on parchment" which, among other foundations, established that new Americans shall "...hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem the most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes;..." So it was that the foundation was further defined.
But for all of its' newly discovered and well-defined-course of freedom, this new country was saddled with immense logistical problems. The "Crown Lands" were confiscated from the British, but the Revolutionary War had left the newly declared States capital poor with many debts owed, including numerous Military Bounty Warrants (for military service) to be paid. The time to Insure the Domestic Tranquility was close an hand.
The Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776, outlined and directed the Vision of the New Americans in the Preamble. The text goes on to expound upon the "History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations,..." that the King of Great-Britain had placed them in bondage with, namely that, "He has refused his Assent to Laws of Immediate and pressing Importance, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good. ...He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People,...He, has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, the representatives of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, ...and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies,... are...Free and Independent States,... establish Commerce, and to do all the other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with firm Reliance of the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Notably, the Truths, certain unaliable Rights, Pursuit of Happiness, security, Safety, stability, Accommodation of large districts of People, commerce,... were the framework and mortar in the foundation of the System that was to be crafted by Jefferson and his Associates as the next order of business.
With the seemingly endless maze of formidable challenges set before him, President Washington and the Continental Congress once again turned to their surveying compatriot and fellow statesman, Thomas Jefferson, to engineer a solution to the problem.
Jefferson, a surveyor, lawyer and statesman, was a brilliant problem- solver. He was the original Team Leader (with Geo. Washington as his Coach) and the logical choice to lead the Team into this brave new world.
Jefferson first summed his assets, then his debits. Being land rich, having the confidence of his countrymen, having a strong background in survey law and the morals that generated those philosophies originally, having 20/20 hindsight of the mistakes and blunders the Crown had made, and having the great minds of the states at his disposal, were the most significant checks in the plus column. The ink on the Declaration of Independence was barely dry when Washington and Assoc. put the task before Jefferson. The Declaration was, in effect, a Vision Statement, being the ground on which Jefferson was to build his foundation upon. His moral fortitude and vast and diverse experience acted as the sideboards of the foundation of the System and Solution he was charged with to create.
On the negative side of the equation, a vast amount of debt would have to be dissolved with the resources at hand. Additionally, "Principles and Foundations" outlining the "certain unaliable rights" in the country·s new vision would likewise have to be accounted for in their subject's "pursuit of happiness.." It would likewise have to be a System to "work to be shown for what it is,...". It would, in other words, have to withstand the test of time, apply to vast and diverse topographic conditions (the Public Domain), apply to diverse cultures, provide universal and seamless application and provide immediate revenue for the debts owed.
Jefferson used the direct approach, diving head-first into the problem. He realized quickly that by using the few, but distinctive assets of lands of the "Western Territory" of Ohio, and by using the ability of a band of knowledgeable surveyors, he might unravel the solution to this sticky problem. In the spring of 1874, Jefferson, as the Chairman of the Committee/Team delivered his report to Congress. In this report, all the mosaic of the requirements of the Declaration of Independence were met, including engineering a solution for the debt issue. Jefferson had created an ingenious plan wherein the "Northwest Territory" (Ohio) would be surveyed and sold to prospective buyers, with the proceeds to go to the Treasury. This new System of Survey would not be the ole "metes and bounds" system of the Colonies, but rather "Rectangular System of Surveying" wherein the proper application of Geometry, Physics, Pythagorean principles, ... would be meshed with equitable solutions of law, yet having the characteristic of being "user-friendly" to the Technician applying the procedures on the ground (executing the Surveys). This Public land survey System would be run and marked due north and south with other lines crossing these at right angles. In other words thee primary mode of directions were cardinal (North, South, East, and West). It would contain sections one mile square and would have townships containing these "rectangular" sections, thus the nickname of the new System became the "Rectangular System".
Nearly a year went by before the Congress responded. The report was read and reread. After Congress made a few modifications of their own, AN ORDINANCE FOR ASCERTAINING THE MODE OF DISPOSING OF LANDS IN THE WESTERN TERRITORY passed the into Law on May 20, 1785. Thus the "Land Ordinance of 1785", was "out on the road" to carry the new States to their "...general welfare, and (to) secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity... "
Congress, by the passing of the 1875 Land Ordinance, directed its path of authority to the surveyors. The Land Ordinance stated, "A surveyor from each state shall be appointed by Congress or a committee of the states, who shall take an oath for the faithful discharge of his duty., before the geographer of the United States, who is hereby empowered and directed to administer to each chain carrier, by the Surveyor under whom he acts.... " Therefore the lineage of exclusive authority surveyors executing surveys of Public Domain Lands, exists only to the BLM surveyor (for the surveys of Public Domain Lands), finding its origin in this Congressional Act. In this manner Congress delegated its Authority as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and later to be further defined in the Constitution. Immediately following the passing of the 1875 Land Ordinance, a second Committee (Team) was assembled for "test-driving" the masterpiece of design that Jefferson engineered. The leader of this Team wins Thomas Hutchins, a surveyor from New Jersey. Hutchins selected as members of his team, a member from each of the thirteen states (Colonial States), all with varying degrees of experience of surveying, scouting/pathfinding, mathematics, sciences and other abilities necessary to effect a survey in the "wilderness of the Northwest Territory". This was, in effect, the first "Direct System" of Survey, where U.S Surveyors executed surveys of the Public Domain under Congressional Authority. It was during this 10-year period that some practical additions and amendments were added to the original Act in the form of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and in the Act of May 18,1796 (lStat.464). The 1796 Act of Congress completed the basic foundation of the Public Land Survey System for the survey of Public Lands. 0ther Acts would follow to slightly-amend the "foundation" of procedures used in public domain surveys, but would be minor in scope. Basically the "concrete foundation" was set and hardened.
Specifically, the 1796 Act defined a chain of Authority from Congress to the Surveyor stating that, "A surveyor General shall be appointed. He shall engage skillful surveyors as his deputies. He shall survey the lands northwest of the Ohio River and above the mouth of the Kentucky river (in Kentucky) in which indian title has been extinguished Greenville treaty). He shall frame regulations and instructions for his deputies and they shall take an oath (to do proper work) and he may remove (fire) them for negligence or misconduct." The Act went on to give details and specifics on the mode and measurements to be made, namely, "The lines will be measured with containing two perches of 16 1/2 feet each, subdivided into 25 equal links, adjusted to a standard to be kept for that purpose. the Surveyors are to keep detailed field notes and return them to the Surveyor General for permanent records. The Surveyor General will make three plats; and one for the Secretary of the Treasury; he will make out a description of the township for the use of officers making sales, and will give a description on the plats of the lands and the corner monumentation."
In the midst of the 10 or 11 year period of "test-driving" the 1875 Land Ordinance, the original 7 Articles of the Constitution were passed (in 1787). The Surveyor of the Public Domain is directed by a common thread of power and authority, balanced with the solemn responsibility of Protecting the rights of its citizens, as woven throughout the tapestry of the fabric of the Constitution. Namely it provided that "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Other authorities affecting the welfare of the states included that, "ARTICLE I Section 1-...All legislative powers granted herein shall be vested in a Congress of the United States,... Section 8-Power of Congress. the Congress shall have power to 1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States;... 3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with indian tribes;... 18. to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested in this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof. ARTICLE IV. Section 1-Each state to give credit to public acts, etc. of every other state. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved , and the effect thereof. Section 2- Privileges of each State...1. The citizens of each State shall be shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of the citizens in the several states. ... Section 3- Admission of new states. Power of Congress over territory and other property. ... 2. The Congress shall have the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as prejudice and claims of the United States or of any particular state. ARTICLE VI Certain debts, etc., declares valid. Supremacy of Constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States. ... 1. All debts all debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid as against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land;...".
These segments of Congressional Laws, Constitution, and its Amendments affecting surveys of public lands have been incorporated in survey practices of the Manual of Survey Instructions for the Public Lands, and have essentially remained intact having helped form a more perfect Union, established justice and ensured the domestic tranquillity for more than two centuries. The dynamic nature of the Manual of Survey Instructions is a testament to the foresight and ingenuity of Jefferson and other surveyors who helped construct the excellently crafted foundation for the surveys of the Public Domain, utilizing the Public Land Survey System. This also ultimately defines the balance of authority and solemn responsibility bestowed on the surveyor of the Public Domain (BLM Cadastral Surveyor).
The Act of May 18, 1796 (1Stat.464) allowed the "privatization" of Cadastral Surveys as directed by the Surveyor General.
By this time Congress was demanding that surveys in the Northwest Territory be expedited, and they viewed privatization (under the Contract System) as a means to that end. Theoretically the Surveyor General would provide guidance to the "Deputy Surveyors" and upon completion of the "Contract" survey work, would review work to assure quality. In theory, this new "Contract System" (Congress felt) would provide the desired result of quality surveys by "local privateers". This theory and philosophy of being able to produce a quality product in a timely end efficient manner via privatization of Public Land Surveys, became "the House of Straw constructed on the perfect foundation". Though the Contract surveys were quite timely, they were (as it would be revealed in future "resurveys" of these surveyed lines) be far removed from anything resembling a quality product. The Surveyor General, was charged with examining all of the surveys both in the field and in the office, became overwhelmed by the flood of survey plats returning to his office. Though the Surveyor General became swamped with work, having no real chance to check any of surveys in the field, he was powerless to do much about it. He pleaded with Congress to provide him with an additional Clerk help out with the office work, but did not receive approval to hire one. The Surveyor General soon realized that without adequate funds for qualified personnel, the quality of the product became markedly absent.
The "Contract System" continued to limp on into the next century producing quantity, but remaining anemic in quality.
In 1812, the Governing Bureaucracy for land transactions was reengineered with a fresh layer of straw being placed on the roof, being reorganized as the General Land Office, which became a bureau within the Treasury Department. The chief officer was called the Commisioner of the General Land Office, who was to, "superintend, execute. and perform all such acts and things, touching or respecting the public lands of the United States,...". One flaw in the Act was that it did not give clear authority to the Commisioner over the Surveyor General. Because of that flaw, the Surveyors General would continue to operate in a semi- autonomous fashion for the next 25 years or more, making their own rules for the execution of the public land surveys. In 1849, the General Land Office was transferred from the Treasury Department to the newly created Department of the Interior. Organized by functions, the General Land Office had nine main divisions, namely: public lands, surveys, private land claims military bounty lands, land sales, preemption claims, recording of patents, distribution of lands, and fiscal matters. In this latest effort at reorganization, nothing was effected or initiated to instill quality into Surveys of the Public Domain which were still executed (poorly} under the Contract System. Clearly, surveys executed under the Contract System (privatization) consistently fell short of "...insur(ing) domestic tranquility,..", or to"...promote the general welfare,...."
In 1855, the first Manual of Surveying Instructions was published which contains many of the basic tenets of the 1785 Land Ordinance and is likewise the foundation for the current Manual of Surveying Instructions, 1973 edition.
By the mid-1860's, the "lower 48" had taken their basic form of states within the Union. Contract surveys continued to pour in and tensions continued to mount proportionately as settlers found it very difficult, if not impossible, to utilize the shoddy work of the "private surveyors" whose work they depended upon to homestead and locate their claims. Congress remained headstrong in not al1owing the Government Surveyors (charged with quality assurance) any significant assistance. By the 1870's, the time was ripe for plunderers of the Public Domain to pluck the eyes out of the unsuspecting and naive.
The westward expansion of the States now being basically complete,the vast and untamed wild west became an "unsurveyed island in a faraway land". This isolation provided another element in what was to become the greatest scandal and plunder of resources in the history of the United States, affecting trillions dollars of land values. Then arrives a villain, an opportunist, taking full advantage of the Government's willingness to place their trust in a "privateer" such as himself.
He was born in Jefferson County, New York, in 1847, graduating from Warren College in Illinois when he was about 20 years of age. At age 21, he was elected surveyor of Keokuk County, Iowa, and held the position for five years. He moved to California to become a school teacher, and soon thereafter changed professions to become a U. S. Deputy Surveyor under the Contract System. This new entrepenuer, also known as John A. Benson, began to study the law and history of California land frauds. His studies taught hhim how the former Mexican Governor of California had stolen a million acres; how the Mariposa Grant, originally in the form of a rectangle, oozed out of its original confines for miles and miles and consumed valuable outlying mines until it took on the form of a boot; and how the Los Medanos Tract, in Contra Costa County, originally about 3 sqare leagues had been stretched contorted until it grew to eight times the size intended origina11y.
As an impressionable young man, Benson had several mentors in the fraud arena. Henry Miller, for example, had arrived in the UnitedStates a near-penniless butcher, and in a few short years attained holdings three times the size of New Jersey. There was Frederick A. Hyde, whose use of "dummy" entrymen inspired Benson. A few years earlier, Senator John H Mitchell, Representatives Binger Hermann and John E. Williamson, and U.S. District Attorney John H. Hall, were indicted for conspiracy against the government to gain possession of hundreds of thousands of acres of valuable land in Oregon. So it was that Benson completed the first part of his "privatizatlon education". Benson had learned that the poor became rich through the inability of the U.S. Government to administer its land laws effectively, and that corruption of some of its "loftier" leaders could bring untold wealth to one with ambitious vision. On September 9, 1873, J.R. Hardenburg, Surveyor General for Califonia, assigned Benson his first contract for the survey of government lands, for which th egovernment paid him $1814,61. Benson was 26 years old at the time. The Villain officially made his residence in the House of Straw.
It is written, "Can a man take a burning ember in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?" In 1871 and 1879, the Special Deposit Survey System was formed through amendments to The 1862 Homestead Act. This change alleviated some cash-flow problems between the U.S. Government, the U.S. Deputy/Surveyors and the persons making entry on the Public Domain lands. More significantly though, these amendments became the burning ember setting aflame the Benson legacy. It was in this era that this "privatization of Cadastral Surveying" under the Benson Syndicate, resulted iu massive fraud in Contract Surveys executed throughout the western United States. By 1885, the amount of township surveys completed by Contract Surveyors (U.S. Deputy Surveyors) had reached its climax, Surveyors) had reached its climax. By law, before U.S. Depuuy Surveyor' s notes and survey plats were approved, an examination had to be completed. Congress felt that merely because a law was in place, that this assured success in accomplishing quality surveys. That logic which built the House of Straw was soon to "...be revealed by fire..." and "..shown for what it is..." Benson continued with his grand scheme of fraud, realizing that Congress had tied the hands of the Examiners and Surveyors General by not providing enough people to "cover all the bases" and insure that the letter of the law was enforced.
He used this knowledge to its fullest extent to make field-note submissions and claims for work "completed". Following are some of the many examples of the grossly inflated estimates and claims: 1. Contract No. 175, 1880, to S.A. Hanson was awarded originally at $4000; the final amout of the Contract paid was $27,453.24; 2. Contract No. 165, 1880, to M.F. Reilley was awarded originally at $1800; the final amount of the Contract paid was $25,836.95. In addition to inflated claims for work "completed", the work was often partially or wholly fraudulent. Because of of the logistical and practical problem of checking Surveys in the field, very few, of the Contract surveys were checked by the U.S. Survey Examiners. Final figures place Benson's total share of the plunder at $2 million. However, the final cost to the U.S. government, due to surveys that were fraudulent or poorly executed and for fraudulent land claims, was much greater. The "privatization" of cadastral surveys proved to be a costly experiment. This same "experiment" is one that has plagued our society even to the present time, for all of those trying to depend on the shoddy and fraudulent work of the "private Contract Surveyors".
Benson was net alone in his scheme. He enlisted the assistance of a "Syndicate" of Deputy Surveyors (Private Contract Surveyors). Benson and his band of approximately 35 "syndicate" private Contract Surveyors, spread their surveys like a disease across many of the western states.
The Annual Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1887, reported that the syndicate extended into Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Washington, and especially in Colorado and California. A few years earlier, in 1877, both the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner of the General Land Office reccomended the closing of all Offices of Surveyors General, appointing one Surveyor General to be located in Washington D.C., abolishing the Contract System, and having the surveys executed by paid employees appointed by the Surveyor General. Oh, the grief and expense and plunder of the Public Domain that would have been averted had Congress taken the advice of its employees!! Ultimately, it was not the Public Land Survey System which failed to insure the domestic tranquility of the citizens of the United States, but rather the privatization of the System that failed.
The Annual Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1881 outlined that Deputy Surveyors were being utilized to Examine the Contract Surveys, which was in effect, "the fox watching the henhouse". The Commissioner of the General Land Office asked for a repeal of the Deposit Survey Systems, explaining how the deposit frauds worked. Both the commissioner and the Secretary of the Interior asked Congress that the surveyors and examiners be direct employees of the Commissioner instead of most examinations being made under rhe Surveyors General. The Commissioner stated, "It is an absurdity to suppose that that truthful and honest returns of examinations in every particular will be made deputy surveyors, upon whom the surveyors general are more than ordinarily dependent for examiners, when it is considered that the examining deputy will at some time, if not already under obligations, have his own work examined by the very deputy whose work he has, if honest, condemned. the temptation of overlooking defects, either in the survey of lines or the marking of the same, has proven too great to be resisted by them. It is safe to say that not one percent of the number of examinations are satisfactory to this office in the results obtained." Not only was the Contract System failing to "promote the general welfare", but the philosophy of "Contractors monitoring Contractors" was also a failure. Yet Congress remained headstrong in not honoring the advice and wise council of their Surveyors (employees}.
By 1885, public outcry for a quality product was reaching a crescendo. Claimants trying to locate corners "supposed to be there" were unable to do so because the private Contract surveyors had failed to set them, or their work was so poor as to negate efforts to find surveyed corners on which to base their claims. The gap between rumors and proof of excess was narrowing quickly now.
Congress, proud as they were, finally had to recognize and admit the error of their philosophy of Straw Houses. In other words, the privatization of Public Land surveys had been monumental failure. In 1887, special Agents were assigned to investigate the private survey fraud of the Syndicate Contract Surveyors. In all, 41 indictments were issued against Benson and his Associates for perjury and conspiracy under Section 2232, Revised Statutes of the United States. Lightning had struck the House of Straw and the rats began to flee from the burning structure. Benson fled to Copenhagen, Denmark, but was finally tracked down and brought back to the U. S. Meanwhile, his partners in crime were being interrogated by Special Agent C.F. Conrad, who prepared a series of 29 questions for each "privateer" accused of assisting Benson in his scheme. Many of the private Contract Surveyors (U.S. Deputy Surveyors) turned States evidence. The healing process could finally begin...
Congress was now between a rock a hard place. They found it difficult to accept that their philosophy of the "privatization" of Surveys of the Public Domain (the Straw House) had utterly failed and was burning to the ground. They were now on the hot seat for all the monies that were spent for a faulty or non-existent product. They put on a brave face by trying to put a bandaid on the leprosy. The "Suspension" of most of the survey work currently ongoing was ordered in the 1890's. But this offered no real resolution because many of the private surveyors enlisted to correct their faulty work were the same surveyors who performed the shoddy work in the first place. The private surveyor's word of honor was not much better than it had been originally. Work and corrections "made under oath" by the Contract Surveyors were poor, faulty fraudulent the second time around as well. Therefore, with the mass suspensions of surveys, the claims based on those surveys were basically shut down to a mere trickle. The cries from the masses arose once more, as the fire consumed the House of Straw into the latter part of the 1800's. Congress acted and responded to the conflagaration by lifting the Suspensions of the surveys executed the private Contract surveyors. This solved one problem but created another. The claimants could now file their claims under the Homestead Act, etc. based on the Contract Surveys. On the negative side of the equation, the faulty private Contract work had been accepted as an official document on which to base claims (patents). Basically, the resolution of the problem was not much further along than it had been in the late 1880's. There was one significant and notabele exception to this statement, however. More precisely, Congress now recognized fully the error of their earlier "Straw House" philosophies.
Toward the end of the 1800's, the government dabbled with the idea of having government employees doing surveys, in a manner similar to to what the Commissioner of the General Land Office had suggested more than 20 years prior. Following the massive timber frauds of the Benson era, surveyors employed by the U.S.G.S. surveyed some surveys under the Civil Appropriations Act of June 4, 1897 (30Stat.11). The Law required them to make surveys in compliance with the existing laws and regulations. In other words, they were to follow the guidance of the current Manual of Surveying Instructions. However, in some places, the U.S.G.S. surveyors did not execute the boundary work correctly, ignored the original surveys, or followed some other incorrect procedures. It was apparent that the U.S.G.S. did not possess the technical expertise and background to properly execute Cadastral Surveys. Then in 1910 a true reengineering of processes occurred.
By the early part of the 1900's Congress saw its House of Straw (Privatization of Public Land Surveys) in a pile of charred rubble. A couple of probes had been made at finding a solution to the rebuilding that that must take place to get the structure buiklt again. Finally, Congress relented, admitting that the idea submitted by its Commisioner nearly three decades previously, might be the best course of action (having government employees execute surveys directly under the supervision and authority of a "Surveyor General" in the Washington Office).
Then finally the rubble (privitization of surveys) had begun to be removed from atop the foundation (The Public Land Survey System) and a structure that would ensure quality as an investment in insuring the domestic tranqility was blueprinted (reengineered). The Act of March 3, 1909 (35Stat. 845) was enacted by Congress, nicknamed the "resurvey law", authorized, by statute, the resurveys of public lands whenever and wherever necessary to mark the boundaries of the remaining public lands. Then in the following year, congress enacted the Civil Apppriations Act of June 25, 1910 (36Stat.703) which provided that, "The surveys and resurveys to be masde by sych competent surveyors as the Secretaryof the Interior may select, ...". This law was further codified into the Revised Statutes 453; (43U.S.C. 2) which stated that, "The Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he may desgnate shall perform all executive duties appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States or any wise respecting such public lands, and, also, such as relate to private claims of land, and the issuing of patents far all grants of land under the authority of the Government. A short time later, this Statute Law was further expounded upon by the Revised Statutes 453; (43U.S.C. 1201) stating, "The Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he may designate, is authorized to enforce and carry into execution, by appropriate regulations, every part of the provisions of this title not specifically provided for". This was significant in that Congress recognized that Cadastral Survey (known then as the General Land Office Surveying Department) were the experts in public land surveys and should be allowed latitude in "filling in the gaps" between Statute Law and the "finishing touches" on the new structure (Direct System). This was a huge step in thr right direction in quality assurrnace. Likewise, it insured that now the "Surveyor General" could properly and adequately direct resources to insure that a quality product would result from this point forward.
The core of the expertise originated from those most familiar with enforcing the rules and regulations a few years prior (Examiners and U.S. Surveyors). Additionally, a few of the old Contract surveyors were hired, with an additional core of "new blood" to round out the cadre of this new breed of surveyors. This newly formed cadre of surveyors became the true persona of "Cadastral Survey". A new and dynamic framework arose from the rubble. This was, in practical terms for the greater part, the end of the "privatization" of Cadastral Surveys and the genesis of the new "Direct System" of Surveys. With the acknowledgement of Congress that the Cadastral Surveyors knew what was best for the surveys of public land (empowerment), the clean-up and rectification of the many wrongs perpetrated during the Contract System (Privatization of Cadastral Survey) could now progress full steam ahead. Many innovations were created end reengineered by this new corps of Cadastral Surveyors to "insure the domestic tranquility" and apply the principles found in the 1785 Land Ordinance and the Act of 1796. Massive "investigations" wereof the surveys suspected of fraud. Private claims (bona fide rights) were protected via modified forms of dependent resurvey (Investigations of Survey Conditions and Tract Surveys). Thus the system was truly reengineered to meet the extremely complex and convoluted "pile of spaghetti" the Contract surveys and Surveyors left to untangle. In 1946, the structure that was built on the original foundation (Public Land Survey System) of the 1785 Act, got "rewired". The Act of July 15, 1946 (60Stat.1100), commonly known as Reorganization Plan No. 3' or the "0rganic Act" consolidated the General Land Office, the Grazing Service, The Oregon and California Administration, and others into one new Bureau to be called the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The GL0 was abolished and duties of the Commissioner were assigned to the Director of the BLM. The change increased efficiency slightly within the organization, but had little immediate affect on the Public Land surveys. This structure exists much the same today as it did then. The lineage of authority of surveys of Public Lands still emanates from Statute Law (Congressional Authority} exulusively to the BLM Cadastral Surveyor. The Cadastral Surveyors have continually strived to stay on the cutting edge of technology, utilizing the likes of Electronic Field Data Collection, Automated Plat Drafting and Satellite Positioining Systems to expedite Cadastral Surveys. Likewise, these acknowledged experts of the Public Land Survey System, have continually reengineered the Manual of Surveying Instructions indoctrinating the current authorities from "the courts of competent jurisdiction" while instilling the precepts that Jefferson originally meshed into the Declaration of Independence, the 1875 Land Ordinance and the Constitution of the United States. Today BLM Cadastral Surveyors provide an invaluable and irreplaceable service as experts on the Public Land System.
The BLM literally receives thousands upon thousands of inquiries annually on the intricacies of surveys and resurveys of the Public Land Survey System. In each and every corresspondence, they have acknowledged the stature and expertise of the BLM Cadastral Surveyor. Likewise, through legislative Acts, Congress has acknowledged that BLM Cadastral Surveyors are far and away, the experts and authoritative voice on Public Land Survey issues.
The BLM Cadastral Surveyors have their roots firmly established in the knowledge, ingenious problem-solving abilities, morals, productivity, resiliency, proven ability and ingenuity that founded and shaped the destiny of the United States. Privatization of the surveys of the Public Domain failed miserably to protect the tenets of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. For all of these, no one can replace this message (the Public Land Survey System) or replace the messenger (the BLM Cadastral Surveyor). This legacy is, and always will be, "shown for what it is", namely a dynamic and long- standing structure that has been "tested with the quality of each man's work". The final form has been "revealed with fire" and could not be consumed by this fire of time and efficient practicality. It has survived and thrived as the equitable foundation and structure protecting and insuring the domestic tranquility of our society.
NOTES
1. Under the Homestead Act of 1862, an official affidavit. was signed by a person (i.e., entryman/claimant) applying to settle and buy land from the U.S. Government. A ficticious' name was used (i.e., "dummy") thereby allowing large blocks of land to be plundered with mimimal investment of capital. Annual Report of the Commisioner of the General Land Office, 1885.
REFERENCES
General Land Office. 1870-1900 inclusive. Annual Reports of the
Commisioner of the General Land Office. Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office.
Holy Bible, New International version. Zondervan Curpotation, 1984.
Homestead Act of May 20, 1862, with amendments in 1871 and 1879 to add the Special Deposit System.
Millard, Bailey. 1905. "The West Coast Land Grafters." Everybody's
Magazine, vol. 12. No. 5, May.
Surveys and Surveyors of the Pubiic Domain, 1785-1975. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
U.S. Department of the Interior. 1994.. Code of Federal Regulations,
(43CFR). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing 0ffice.
U.S. Department of the Interior. 1962. Historical Highlights of Pubic Lands Management. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 1947-73
inclusive. Manual of Instructions for the Survey of Public Lands of the United States. 1947 and 1973. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Various
Investigative Reports of Survey Conditions, CA. 1910 -90.
Uu.S. Department of the Interior, General Land Office. 1855-1930
inclusive. Manuals of Instructions for the Survey of Public Lands of the United States. 1855 thrrmgh 1930. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
United States Revised Statutes, Secs. 2232, 2395 and 2403.
White, C. Albert. 1982. A History of the Rectangular Survey System. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
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Created: June 20, 1997
Last updated: June 18, 1999