While Kent has us on the subject of mid-1800's surveying ...
Here is a link to an article written in 1896 by a former Deputy Surveyor who had done some work in Iowa and Wisconsin (before the fences were built 🙂 ). In it he recalls some of his experiences.
That is a really wonderful first-hand account. Thanks for posting that, Dan.
BTW there is a Texas link to Iowa surveying. A couple of guys who later worked as Deputy surveyors in Iowa and Wisconsin, Samuel C. Wiltse and Henry A. Wiltse, in 1840 subdivided thousands of acres of land owned by the Republic of Texas surrounding the original City of Austin. If anyone runs across any additional information about either of them, I'd be interested to read it. So far, they are mysterious characters who appeared in the Republic of Texas, performed some substantial surveys under various contracts with the government, and just dropped off the face of the Earth. Apparently, they were hiding out in Iowa thereafter. :>
[Edit: I see that the BLM /US GLO plats for Wisconsin show that Samuel C. Wiltse subdivided five townships in 1843, mostly in Crawford County, WI. Henry A. Wiltse is shown as having surveyed two townships, one in 1853 and one in 1862, both also in Wisconsin. I'll bet they did more work in Iowa.]
Henry A. Wiltse apparently filled in for the Surveyor General at Dubuque, Iowa in December, 1848 and January, 1849.
A letter of instruction to Deputy Surveyor Cyrus Sanders dated December 11, 1848 was signed by Surveyor General George W. Jones. Another letter of instruction to Deputy Surveyor E. W. Eastman dated February 9, 1849 was signed by Surveyor General Caleb Booth.
In the interim, several letters of instruction were signed by Henry A. Wiltse, Chief Clerk.
A quick scan of the list in Dodds, _Original Instructions Governing Public Land Surveys of Iowa_ finds:
Henry A. Wiltse deputy surveyor 1844 contract for subdivision of townships in Iowa and Keokuk Counties.
Henry A. Wiltse, chief clerk signing letters in place of the surveyor general in Dubuque on contracts for work in several counties in 1849.
Samuel C. Wiltse did subdivision in Mahaska County on contract let 1844, and Butler and Grundy ies on contracts let in 1847, 1849.
I could have missed other occurrences of their names.
The following references to Henry Wiltse appear in a book entitled The History of Dubuque County, Iowa (1880):
Page 410 - THE OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATION was called into being by the survivors of those who began the building up of Dubuque in 1832, and fully organized on the 10th of June, 1865, with Edward Langworthy, President, and Chandler Childs as Secretary of the society, at which date the following signed as members: P.A. Lorimier, John Simplot, George W. Jones, Jesse M. Harrison, S.M. Langworthy, A. McDaniel, Richard Bonson, J.R. Goodrich, N.V. De Cellus, Mathew McNair, A.B. Harrison, B.F. Davis, S.M. Lorimier, A. Levi, T.C. Roberts, T.S. Wilson, George O. Karrick, J.D. Graffort, Peter Waples, H.A. Wiltse, John King, J.H. Thedinga, Jacob Christman, M. McNamara ,Joseph Ogilby, Nathaniel Simpson, J.H. Emerson, John Goldthorpe, C.H. Booth and Timothy Mason.
In addition to Wiltse, notice the names of George W. Jones and Caleb Booth, both Surveyors General at Dubuque.
Page 557 - In the year 1851, the district was subdivided into three school districts. The officers of District No. 3 to wit, James Burt, Edward Langworthy and Henry A. Wiltse, redeemed the schoolhouse in their district.
Page 560 - On the 1st of September, President Wiltse removed out of the district, and, the office being vacant, William J. Barney was elected President and Dr Belden Vice President.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t say where he "removed" to.
Google finds some more about them:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/4635426
Wisconsin Magazine of History, Spring 1980 pp. 233-235 "A Cartographic Riddle" (1 page only for free)
"In the summer of 1847, Henry A. Wiltse, while surveying for the US GLO extended the line of the Fourth Principal Meridian overland from present day Clark County to the point where the meridian intersects Lake Superior ... 135 miles. ... Although he [used] the newly devised solar compass ...
It sounds like there may have been problems with his results?
This Google Books link has a biography of Chauncey Wiltse, brother of Henry, and mentions some of the places they were.
Illinois surveyor Robert Church quotes a letter from Henry Wiltse in Iowa in 1847 about the hardships of surveying on the frontier.
This entry mentions S. C. Wiltse mapping in Hawaii in 1866.
Here’s a more complete version of Wiltse’s letter, as quoted by Bob Church. It’s from the book entitled Public Land Surveys: History, Instructions, Methods by Lowell O. Stewart, copyright 1935 Collegiate Press, Ames, Iowa.
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LIFE ON A WISCONSIN SURVEY
Here is a description of life on a survey of the 4th principal
meridian and 3d correction line in Wisconsin by Harry A.
Wiltse in 1847:
I was fully aware that. . . It would be impossible for one man to carry
more than provisions enough for his own consumption. . . In making up
their packs each member of the party was restricted to the clothes upon
his back and a single blanket, that he might be able to carry the greatest
amount of provisions, which was made to consist of pork and flour alone.
Not even a tent of any description was carried. . . Heavy packs could
not be carried. . . Upon arriving at La Pointe . . . I employed two of the
regular packmen of the American Fur Company. . . These men under
one-fourth of the weight which they had been accustomed to carry. . .
complained. . . and refused to carry a pack at all.
The aggregate amount of swamp traversed by the two lines was about
one hundred and seventy-five miles, a considerable portion of which might
be termed windfall.
During four consecutive weeks there was not a dry garment in the
party, day or night.
Consider a situation like the above; connected with the dreadful
swamps through which we waded, and the great extent of windfalls over
which we clumb and clambered; the deep and rapid creeks and rivers that
we crossed, all at the highest stage of water; that we were constantly surrounded
and as constantly excoriated by swarms or rather clouds of
mosquitoes, and still more troublesome insects; and consider further that
we were all the while confined to a line, and consequently had no choice of
ground. . . and you can form some idea of our suffering condition.
Our principal suffering, however, grew out of exhaustion of our provisions,
coarse as they were. . . Worn out by fatigue and hardship, and
nearly destitute of clothes, they had now to make a forced march of three
days for the lake in search of provisions, of which, during that three days,
they had had not a mouthful.
I contracted to execute this work at ten dollars per mile. . . but would
not again, after a lifetime of experience in the field, and a great fondness
for camp life, enter upon the same, or a similar survey, at any price
whatever.
> Page 410 - THE OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATION was called into being by the survivors of those who began the building up of Dubuque in 1832, and fully organized on the 10th of June, 1865, with Edward Langworthy, President, and Chandler Childs as Secretary of the society, at which date the following signed as members: [...]H.A. Wiltse,
That's fascinating. It suggests that the Wiltses may have come to Texas from Iowa in 1840. Based upon the occurence of the name, the fact that Samuel C. Wiltse had described himself as a civil engineer in his proposal to the president of the Republic of Texas, and that some of the areas of the large lots they surveyed were expressed in acres and roods, I had hypothesized that they were from a settled area in the East such as Pennsylvania or New York.
It's simply amazing how much more information becomes available online over time. It has been a while since I googled the Wiltses and now there is a treasure trove. Samuel C. Wiltse, the "civil engineer" who subdivided the thousands of acres of the Government Tract around the original City of Austin in 1840 ended up in the 1860's surveying in ... Hawaii!
Thanks Dan.
It was similar in Ontario with my gg grandfather,g grandfather and, my grandfather W. S. Gibson surveying the town of White River from a tent in the minus 20 F winter.
I don't know if I would have the guts or brains to go surveying as was done in North America in the 1600 to 1900's !
Cheers
Derek
Thank you Dan, that was fantastic!
Yesterday I was in the State Historical library and looked at the transcribed field notes of the subdivision into sections to see if there was anything interesting around my mother in law's land (Poweshiek Co). The surveyor was Henry A. Wiltse. I hadn't noticed that coincidence when looking him up in Dodds.
