Unless a specific situation needed to be addressed, does anyone know if the deputies who subdivided a typical township were given a set of actual instructions?
Field notes in Nebraska will typically read "Set post, deposit charred stake, raise mound of earth with pits as per instructions...".
Is is probable that these "instructions" were only those contained in the current Manual of Instructions, and not actual individual instructions? The reason I ask is because I have never come across any individual "instructions". We have many surveys that say "As per Special Instructions", but no one knows where these Special Instructions can be found.
I have taken, as per instructions, as used that way to mean that the pits and mounds were dug and placed as their existing manual at the time instructed them to do. They did not do something unorthodox to reference the corner. I think the contracts are where the unusual instructions were found and described, such as partial townships, etc. etc..
jud
I would imagine you are already aware of C.A. White's book? For those who aren't, it is a good exposure to some of the PLSS history. It contains a number of special, general and manual of instructions.
Interesting topic for sure. I would give my take on issued instructions, however there are quite a number of far more knowledgeable folks in this regard who frequent this board, who hopefully will chime in regarding their experiences.
Here is the link to C.A. White's book as distributed by the BLM:
I wonder if these could be instructions given by the deputy to his assistants. I know that Silas Reed (IL & MO in the 1840's) trained and sent out quite a few assistants to survey townships. I*n fact he was accused of ethics violations and investigated by the US Senate in the way he selected trainees. He was acquited.
I've always assumed that "as per instructions" in the notes referred to the Manual of Instructions.
I believe Special Instructions were addressed in correspondence from the authorizing agency to the surveyor...kind of a "Notice to Proceed", if you will. I have seen several of these letters. Our Historical Society has some of Theo. Barrett's instructions and contracts for some of the surveys in the Indian Territory.
A few years ago I found a couple of lines in the notes of 5N, 2E, I.M. that stated "Center Quarter corner set per special instructions..". This intrigued me because almost exclusively no center of section corners were set in the 1870's around here, but I had no luck finding the "Special Instructions".
I bet there's a copy of them somewhere, but good luck finding them.
I have a book full (½" thick) of handwritten instructions to Deputies in Louisiana.
They're on-line down here.
Many years ago when I worked for BLM we frequently obtained contracts and special instructions from the National Archives. Contracts were issued to the private contracting surveyors. Special Instructions were and still are issued to the GLO/BLM employee surveyors. These contracts and instructions usually are pretty boiler plat giving financial information, directing the work to be done, and refer to the appropriate manual or other instructions. Occasionally there may be something important and different that was to be addressed.
It has been too many years since I have been to the National Archives or Federal Records Centers to provide any useful information for obtaining these instructions. Perhaps Jerry Wahl or someone will provide more recent information. I would imagine any BLM Cadastral Office would have persons who know how to get these records.
Jerry
If you're not familiar with J.S. Dodds book _Original Instructions Governing Public Land Surveys of Iowa_, you might find it interesting and slightly relevant to the way things were being done before Nebraska.
In addition to reproducing general instructions of various years, somewhat like White's book, it reproduces letters of instruction to the deputies in Iowa. Some only list standard paragraphs (by number in the book for conciseness) and the townships they were to run. Others have additional information indicate anything out of the ordinary, like starting at an unusual point to meet someone else's lines or an Indian boundary, or specifying extra chainage on the southern line to compensate for convergence.
The book has a number of errors, such as mixing up the county names on the maps, and occasionally listing the wrong deputy for a job, but is an incredible resource nevertheless.