DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., May 3, 1881. GENTLEMEN: The following instructions, including full and minute directions for the execution of surveys in the field, are issued under the authority given me by sections 453, 456, 2398, and 2399 United States Revised Statutes, and must be strictly complied with by yourselves and your deputy surveyors. Very respectfully, J. A. WILLIAMSON, TO SURVEYORS GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. Commissioner. 3 INTRODUCTORY. The present system of survey of the public lands was inaugurated by a committee appointed by the Continental Congress, and consisting of the following delegates: Hon. THOS. JEFFERSON, Chairman Hon. HUGH WILLIAMSON Hon. DAVID HOWELL. Hon. ELBRIDGE GERRY. Hon. JACOB READ Virginia. North Carolina. On the 7th of May, 1784, this committee reported "An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of lands in the western territory, and for other purposes therein mentioned." This ordinance required the public lands to be divided into "hundreds" of ten geographical miles square, and those again to be subdivided into lots of one mile square each, to be numbered from 1 to 100, commencing in the northwestern corner, and continuing from west to east and from east to west consecutively. This ordinance was considered, debated, and amended, and reported to Congress April 26, 1785, and required the surveyors "to divide the said territory into townships of 7 miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles. * * * The plats of the townships, respectively, shall be marked by subdivisions into sections of 1 mile square, or 640 acres, in the same direction as the external lines, and numbered from 1 to 49. * And these sections shall be subdivided into lots of 320 acres." 22 This is the first record of the use of the terms "township" and "section." * 66 seven May 3, 1785, on motion of Hon. William Grayson, of Virginia, seconded by Hon. James Monroe, of Virginia, the section respecting the extent of townships was amended by striking out the words miles square" and substituting the words "six miles square." The record of these early sessions of Congress are not very full or complete; but it does not seem to have occurred to the members until the 6th of May, 1785, that a township six miles square could not contain 49 sections of 1 mile square. At that date a motion to amend was made, which provided, among other changes, that a township should contain 36 sections; and the amendment was lost. The ordinance as finally passed, however, on the 20th of May, 1785, provided for townships, 6 miles square, containing 36 sections of 1 mile square. The first public surveys were made under this ordinance. The townships, 6 miles square, were laid out in ranges, extending northward from the Ohio River, the townships being numbered from south to north, and the ranges from east to west. The region embraced by the surveys under this law forms a part of the present State of Ohio, and is usually styled "The Seven Ranges." In these initial surveys only the exterior lines of the townships were surveyed, but the plats were marked by subdivisions into sections of 1 mile square, and mile corners were established on the township lines. The sections were numbered from 1 to 36, commencing |