GLO Deputy Surveyors

OK, gotta replace the soggy worm here.

Way back when, the deputy surveyors were presumably chosen by the Surveyor General.
They got their manuals & letters of instruction, they went West. Their chainmen took an oath. What I'm looking for is history regarding how the surveyors were chosen, certified (if they were), given legal status, etc.

Seems like the earliest "license" I've read about was California, in maybe the 1880s? and the rest of the States gradually followed along between then and the 1930s.

The earliest "licensed" surveyors were county and deputy county surveyors examined and appointed by the states. Daniel Boone, for example, was examined and licensed in Virginia as a Deputy County Surveyor in the late 1700's well before California existed.

Some of these became GLO surveyors. Due to the Tenth Amendment, licensing of Surveyors and other learned professions have always been reserved to the States.

The GLO records don't give us much to go on. The Deputy Surveyors, in the earliest days, were appointed by the Surveyor General, sent into the field on their own account (financially) with letters of instructions from Surveyor General Tiffin. Much of the PLSS was surveyed before the first Manual ever was printed. The earliest Deputy Surveyors were chosen for their hardiness, their literacy, and their ability with mathematics. Most were amazingly proficient at managing field work and getting the job done at $3 per mile, surveyed, platted, and recorded at the end of the season.

I suspect that the deputies were engaged by informal reputation and experience with the respective Surveyor General.

The primary accountability measure was a little thing called a 'contract'. And then as you see in the notes the deputy and his assistants attested (or swore) to the fact that they performed their duties.

I suspect that a rather new deputy would have been subjected to more scrutiny, either in the form of formal or informal inspections. A lot could be told by examination of the returns. And then probably some other deputies in the area would have wind of anything really bad going on.

We know that this didn't always work.

Most of the western states did not have licensure at the time the original surveys were performed. I know that CA was fairly early and a few of the last deputies have early LS numbers.

But none of that was relevant. It was the contract that controlled. The contract either included or referred to more specific instructions.

- jlw

A far majority of the GLO deputy surevyors that worked in Nebraska were friends of the surveyor general or friends of friends of the surveyor general. Many were Civil War veterans and had other occupations such as being farmers, doctors, or self employed doing other things. Rarely have I found a GLO deputy that was a surveyor by occupation, but instead did it as seasonal work. The later county surveyors seemed to have some background in surveying. Licensure wasn't required here until 1958, so if you wanted to practice surveying you could.

Many in the west were also Railroad surveyors also

California issued the first modern licenses in 1892.

I understand before that only the County Surveyor was legally entitled to take on private boundary survey work. I'm not sure of the dates on that though (starting in 1850).

Several County Surveyors were still doing private surveys into the 1960s primarily in the Gold Country.

An interesting book about GLO Deputy Surveyors

SURVEYS AND SURVEYORS. OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 1785-1975 by. Lola Cazier

You might be able to find a used copy from one of the on line sources.
Her husband was Dell Cazier. He was a Cadastral Surveyor in California...maybe other states too, but I worked on one of his crews on a job in the Piutes S. of Lake Isabella in the '70's.
DJJ

An interesting book about GLO Deputy Surveyors

The book is available as a PDF and should be on line somewhere. I don't have a link at the moment though.

- jerry

An interesting book about GLO Deputy Surveyors

Surveys and Surveyors of the Public Domain, 1785-1975 by Lola Cazier

An interesting book about GLO Deputy Surveyors

Lots of pictures of my predecessors. Great history of GLO/BLM.

Keith

An interesting book about GLO Deputy Surveyors

When I downloaded that book for my iPad from the Google ebookstore, a new category opened up called Books for You which was apparently based on that selection. There are dozens of free books available related to surveying including a couple of older editions of the Manual, various reports and reminiscences, instructional books, etc. I found one called "Licensed Land Surveyors of California" from 1916. The ebookstore is a fascinating resource to browse.

Don

Don

These are some of the titles I downloaded as PDFs from Google Books

Don

That's not exactly a summer reading list 🙂 (is it?), but definitely all great titles.
"The Railroad Taper" sounds fascinating.
Wait a minute, is that about a "taper" or a "taper"? I believe they are spelled the same:)

Don

An interesting book about GLO Deputy Surveyors

Interesting enough that surveyors working under federal authority do not need to be licensed by any state even to this day.