It is further agreed by and between the parties to this agreement that no account shall be paid unless properly certified by in his official capacity aforesaid (or by his successor in office in such official capacity), that the surveys are in accordance with the instructions herein referred to and the provisions of this agreement, and until approved plats and certified transcripts of field-notes of the surveys for which the accounts are rendered are filed in the General Land Office.

And it is further understood and agreed by and between the parties to this agreement that the said surveys will not be approved by the said in his official capacity aforesaid (or by his successor in office in such official capacity), unless they shall be found to be in exact accordance with the instructions hereinbefore specified: Provided, also, That no member of Congress, or subcontractor, shall have any part or interest in this contract, and that no payment shall be made for any surveys not executed by the said deputy surveyor in his own proper person.

In testimony whereof the parties to these articles of agreement have hereunto set their hands and seals, the day and year and place specified, as follows:

The surveyor-general at

county of

18-.

day of

1. Where both parties sign the contract on the same day it will be dated that day. 2. Where parties sign the contract on different days it will be dated the day when the last signature is affixed.

3. The names of the surveyor-general, deputy surveyor, sureties, and witnesses must be written in full, and the residence of witnesses written after their signatures.

4. A full description of the surveys embraced in the contract must be written in the blank space left for that purpose.

5. When contract is made under the appropriation for public surveys, the date when surveys are required to be completed and field-notes returned shall not be later than the end of the fiscal year for which appropriation is made; and the date when surveys can be commenced shall not be earlier than the commencement of such fiscal year, except in cases where the appropriation is made immediately available.

6. The rates named in contract must not exceed those fixed by law.

7. The signatures of the surveyor-general and of the deputy surveyor must each be witnessed by two persons.

8. All erasures, mutilations, and interlineations must be avoided.

The substitution provided for in above form of contract is to be made only in cases where townships or portions of townships included in the contract for subdivision are found to be unsurveyable under instructions; and in such cases other townships which are surveyable may be substituted, preference being given to those upon which settlement has been made, or toward which settlement is tending.

In case the deputy finds it necessary to make such substitution, he must forward to the surveyor-general a written report of same at the earliest practicable date. Such report must state fully all of the circumstances of the case and the reasons for substitution, and if subsequent investigation should prove that the substitution was unnecessary and should not have been made, payment for the survey of such substituted townships will not be made.

SYSTEM OF RECTANGULAR SURVEYING.

1. The public lands of the United States are ordinarily surveyed into rectangular tracts, bounded by lines conforming to the cardinal points. 2. The public lands shall be laid off, in the first place, into bodies of land of 24 miles square, as near as may be. This shall be done by the extension of standard lines from the principal meridian every 24 miles, and by the extension, from the base and standard lines, of auxiliary meridians every 24 miles. Thereafter they shall be laid off into bodies of land of 6 miles square, as near as may be, called townships, containing as near as may be 23,040 acres. The townships shall be subdivided into 36 tracts, called sections, each containing as near as may be 640 acres. Any number or series of contiguous townships, situate north or south of each other, constitute a range.

The law requires that the lines of the public surveys shall be governed by the true meridian, and that the townships shall be six miles squaretwo things involving in connection a mathematical impossibility-for, strictly to conform to the meridian, necessarily throws the township out of square, by reason of the convergency of meridians, and hence, by adhering to the true meridian, results the necessity of departing from the strict requirements of law, as respects the precise area of townships and the subdivisional parts thereof, the township assuming something of a trapezoidal form, which inequality develops itself more and more as such, the higher the latitude of the surveys. It is doubtless in view of these circumstances that the law provides (see section 2 of the act of May 18, 1796) that the sections of a mile square shall contain the quantity of 640 acres, as nearly as may be; and, moreover, provides (see section 3 of the act of May 10, 1800) in the following words: "And in all cases where the exterior lines of the townships, thus to be subdivided into sections or half sections, shall exceed, or shall not extend 6 miles, the excess or deficiency shall be specially noted, and added to or deducted from the western or northern ranges of sections or half sections in such township, according as the error may be in running the lines from east to west, or from south to north; the sections and half sections bounded on the northern and western lines of such townships shall be sold as containing only the quantity expressed in the returns and plats, respectively, and all others as containing the complete legal quantity."

The accompanying diagram, marked A, and the specimen field-notes pertaining to the same, will serve to illustrate the method of running lines to form tracts of land 24 miles square, as well as the method of running out the exterior lines of townships, and the order and mode of subdividing townships will be found illustrated in the accompanying specimen field-notes, conforming with the township diagram B. The method here presented is designed to insure as full a compliance with all the requirements, meaning, and intent of the surveying laws as, it is believed, is practicable.

The section lines are surveyed from south to north on true meridians, and from east to west, in order to throw the excesses or deficiencies in measurements on the north and west sides of the township, as required by law. In case where a township has been partially surveyed, and it is necessary to complete the survey of the same, or where the character of the land is such that only the north or west portions of the township can be surveyed, this rule can not be strictly adhered to, but, in such cases, must be departed from only so far as is absolutely necessary. It will also be necessary to depart from this rule where surveys close upon

State or Territorial boundaries, or upon surveys extending from different meridians.

3. The townships are to bear numbers in respect to the base line, either north or south of it; and the tiers of townships called "ranges" will bear numbers in respect to the meridian line according to their relative position to it, either on the east or west.

4. The thirty-six sections into which a township is subdivided are numbered, commencing with number one at the northeast angle of the township, and proceeding west to number six, and thence proceeding east to number twelve, and so on, alternately, until the number thirtysix in the southeast angle. In all cases of surveys of fractional town. ships, the sections should bear the same numbers as they would if the towns hip was full.

5. Standard parallels shall be established at intervals of every 24 miles, north and south of the base line, and auxiliary meridians at intervals of every 24 miles, east and west of the principal meridian; the object being to confine the errors resulting from convergence of ineridians, and inaccuracies in measurements, within the tracts of lands bounded by the lines so established.

6. The survey of all principal base and meridian, standard parallels, and auxiliary meridian, and township lines must be made with an instrument operating independently of the magnetic needle. Burt's improved solar compass, or other instrument of equal utility, must be used of neces sity in such cases; and it is deemed best that such instrument should be used under all circumstances. Where the needle can be relied on, however, the ordinary compass may be used in subdividing and meandering. Whenever deputies use instruments with magnetic apparatus only, they must test the accuracy of their work and the condition of their instruments by at least three observations upon a circumpolar star, upon different days, between the commencement and the close of surveying operations in any given township. Deputies using instruments. with solar apparatus are not required to make observations of the star Polaris, but they must test their instruments by taking the latitude daily, weather permitting, in running base, standard, meridian, and range lines, and upon three different days during the execution of subdivisional surveys in each township. They must make complete records in their field-notes, under proper dates, of the making of all observations in compliance with these instructions, showing the style and condition of the instrument in use, and the angle formed, by comparing the line run with the meridian as by observation determined.

7. The construction and adjustments of all surveying instruments used in the surveying of the public lands of the United States must be tested at least once a year, and oftener if necessary, by comparison with the true meridian, established under the direction of the surveyor general of the district; and the instruments must be so modified in construction, or in such a way corrected, as may be necessary to produce the closest possible approximation to accuracy and uniformity in the operation of all such instruments. A record will be made of such examinations, showing the number and style of the instrument, name of the maker, the quantity of instrumental error discovered by comparison, in either solar or magnetic apparatus, or both, and means taken for correction. The surveyor-general will allow no surveys to be made until the instruments to be used therefor have been approved by him.

8. The township lines and the subdivision lines will usually be measured by a two-pole chain of 33.03 feet in length, consisting of 50 links, and each link being 7 inches and ninety-two hundredths of an inch long.

On uniform and level ground, however, the four-pole chain may be used. The measurements will, however, always be represented according to the four-pole chain of 100 links. The four-pole chains must be adjusted to lengths of 66.06 feet. The object in adding six-hundredths of a foot to the 66 feet of a four-pole chain is to assure thereby that 66 feet will be set off upon the earth's surface without the application of a greater strain than about 20 pounds by the chainmen, thus providing for loss by vertical curvature of the chain, and at the same time avoiding the uncertain results attending the application of strains taxing its elasticity. The deputy surveyor must provide himself with a measure of the standard chain kept at the office of the surveyor-general, to be used by him as a field standard. The chain in use must be compared and adjusted with this field standard each working day, and such field standard must be returned to the surveyor-general's office for examination when his work is completed.

OF TALLY PINS.

9. You will use eleven tally pins made of steel, not exceeding 14 inches in length, weighty enough toward the point to make them drop perpendicularly, and having a ring at the top, in which is to be fixed a piece of red cloth, or something else of conspicuous color, to make them readily seen when stuck in the ground.

PROCESS OF CHAINING.

10. In measuring lines with a two-pole chain, every five chains are called "a tally;" and in measuring lines with a four-pole chain, every ten chains are called "a tally," because at that distance the last of the ten tally pins with which the forward chainman set out will have been stuck. He then cries "tally;" which cry is repeated by the other chainman, and each registers the distance by slipping a thimble, button, or ring of leather, or something of the kind, on a belt worn for that purpose, or by some other convenient method. The hind chainman then comes up, and having counted in the presence of his fellow the tally pins which he has taken up, so that both may be assured that none of the pins have been lost, he then takes the forward end of the chain, and proceeds to set the pins. Thus the chainmen alternately change places, each setting the pins that he has taken up, so that one is forward in all the odd, and the other in all the even tallies. Such procedure, it is believed, tends to insure accuracy in measurement, facilitates the recollection of the distances to objects on the line, and renders a mis-tally almost impossible.

LEVELING THE CHAIN AND PLUMBING THE PINS.

11. The length of every line you run is to be ascertained by precise horizontal measurement, as nearly approximating to an air line as is possible in practice on the earth's surface. This all-important object can only be attained by a rigid adherence to the three following observ

ances:

1. Ever keeping the chain stretched to its utmost degree of tension on even ground.

2. Ön uneven ground, keeping the chain not only stretched as aforesaid, but horizontally leveled. And when ascending and descending steep ground, hills, or mountains, the chain will have to be shortened to

one-half its length (and sometimes more), in order accurately to obtain the true horizontal measure.

3. The careful plumbing of the tally pins, so as to attain precisely the spot where they should be stuck. The more uneven the surface, the greater the caution needed to set the pins.

MARKING LINES.

12. All lines on which are to be established the legal corner boundaries are to be marked after this method, viz: Those trees which may intercept your line must have two chops or notches cut on each side of them without any other marks whatever. These are called "sight trees" or "line trees." A sufficient number of other trees standing within 50 links of the line, on either side of it, are to be blazed on two sides diagonally, or quartering toward the line, in order to render the line conspicuous, and readily to be traced, the blazes to be opposite each other, coinciding in direction with the line where the trees stand very near it, and to approach nearer each other the farther the line passes from the blazed trees. Due care must ever be taken to have the lines so well marked as to be readily followed, and to cut the blazes deep enough to have recognizable scars as long as the trees stand.

Where trees 2 inches or more in diameter are found, the required blazes must not be omitted.

Bushes on or near the line should be bent at right angles therewith, and receive a blow of the ax at about the usual height of blazes from the ground sufficient to leave them in a bent position, but not to prevent their growth.

ON TRIAL, OR RANDOM LINES,

the trees are not to be blazed, unless occasionally, from indispensable necessity, and then it must be done so guardedly as to prevent the possibility of confounding the marks of the trial line with the true. But bushes and limbs of trees may be lopped, and stakes set on the trial or random line, at every ten chains, to enable the surveyor on his return to follow and correct the trial line and establish therefrom the true line. To prevent confusion, the temporary stakes set on the trial or random lines must be pulled up when the surveyor returns to establish the true line.

INSUPERABLE OBJECTS ON LINE-WITNESS POINTS.

13. Under circumstances where your course is obstructed by impassable obstacles, such as ponds, swamps, marshes, lakes, rivers, creeks, &c., you will prolong the line across such obstacles by taking the necessary right angle offsets; or, if such be inconvenient, by a traverse or trigonometrical operation, until you regain the line on the opposite side. And in case a north and south, or a true east and west, line is regained in advance of any such obstacle, you will prolong and mark the line back to the obstacle so passed, and state all the particulars in relation thereto in your field-book. And at the intersection of lines with both margins of impassable obstacles, you will establish a witness point (for the purpose of perpetuating the intersections therewith), by setting a post, and giving in your field-book the course and distance therefrom to two trees on opposite sides of the line, each of which trees you will mark with a blaze and notch facing the post; but on the margins of navigable water-courses, or navigable lakes, you will mark the trees with the proper number of the fractional section, township and range.