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SUBSTANTIATION OF THE ERRONEOUS SURVEYS OF K. W. BARTON
IN TOWNSHIP 28 NORTH, RANGE 5 EAST
[of the Fifth Principal Meridian]
SUPPOSITION:
A. In general, K. W. Barton's surveys in contracts dated March 5th, 1821 were conducted erroneously or at least contained erroneous closure lines.
NOTE:
Surveys made by K. W. Barton in the spring and summer of 1821 are recorded in Volumes 227 and 228 of the General Land Office Field Notes.
He surveyed the following:
Volume 227
Township 25 North, Range 2 East
Township 28 North, Range 4 East
Township 29 North, Range 4 East
Township 30 North, Range 4 East
Township 31 North, Range 4 East
Township 32 North, Range 4 East
Volume 228
Township 28 North, Range 5 East
Township 28 North, Range 6 East
Township 29 North, Range 6 East
Township 30 North, Range 6 East
Township 28 North, Range 7 East
Township 29 North, Range 7 East
FACTS:
1. We have made an extensive resurvey of Township 31 North, Range 4 East and that survey clearly indicates that the original government survey closure distances are completely in error. The errors are so large and so consistent that we believe Mr. Barton never actually measured the lines in the field as his notes show.
COMPARISON OF THE DISTANCES OF THE CLOSING LINES BETWEEN
SECTIONS ALONG THE NORTH TIER OF SECTIONS IN
TOWNSHIP 31 NORTH, RANGE 4 EAST
THE NORTH-SOUTH DIMENSION
OF THE NORTHERN TIER OF SECTIONS
1973
1821 SURVEY BY MISSOURI
ON THE FOLLOWING LINES: BARTON'S SURVEY STATE LAND SURVEY
North between sections 1 & 2 80.60 Chs. 87.60 Chs.
North between sections 2 & 3 80.15 Chs. 93.39 Chs.
North between sections 3 & 4 80.80 Chs. 88.91 Chs.
North between sections 4 & 5 80.75 Chs. 86.75 Chs.
North between sections 5 & 6 87.00 Chs. 86.51 Chs.
2. Another example occurs in Township 29 North, Range 4 East. The General Land Office was aware of errors in Mr. Barton's original survey and instructed Mr. Aaron Snider to resurvey that Township on March 7th, 1855. This resurvey clearly indicates that the closure lines were not run.
COMPARISON OF THE CLOSING LINE'S FALLING DISTANCES
ON THE RANGE LINE IN TOWNSHIP 29 NORTH, RANGE 4 EAST
DISTANCE ON THE RANGE LINE
BETWEEN STANDARD CORNERS
AND CLOSING CORNERS
1821 1855
BARTON'S SNIDER'S
ON THE FOLLOWING LINES: ORIGINAL SURVEY SURVEY
West between sections 30 & 31 80 Lks South 886 Lks South
West between sections 19 & 30 60 Lks South 1,429 Lks South
West between sections 18 & 19 62 Lks South 1,950 Lks South
West between sections 7 & 18 81 Lks South 2,465 Lks South
West between sections 6 & 7 79 Lks South 3,123 Lks South
COMPARISON OF THE DISTANCES OF THE CLOSING LINES BETWEEN
SECTIONS ALONG THE NORTH TIER OF SECTIONS IN
TOWNSHIP 29 NORTH, RANGE 4 EAST
THE NORTH-SOUTH DIMENSION
OF THE NORTHERN TIER OF SECTIONS
1821 1855
ON THE FOLLOWING LINES: BARTON'S SURVEY SNIDER'S SURVEY
North between sections 1 & 2 81.40 Chs. 85.94 Chs.
North between sections 2 & 3 82.79 Chs. 109.40 Chs.
North between sections 3 & 4 81.50 Chs. 110.10 Chs.
North between sections 4 & 5 81.11 Chs. 113.55 Chs.
North between sections 5 & 6 81.50 Chs. 113.77 Chs.
3. Also, it appears to be common knowledge of the local surveyors some sixty (60) years ago that the surveys in Township 28 North, Range 5 East were in error. Evidence of this is the survey on June 2nd, 1917 by Mr. J. M. Payton, County Surveyor. He shows in his field notes while surveying in Section 18, Township 28 North, Range 5 East, the following statement: "Knowing that the field notes were not correct, we postponed the remaining part of survey until more data could be secured and for this reason, close survey."
4. On April 28th, 1885, Mr. H. C. Wilkinson, County Surveyor, recorded in his field notes while surveying in sections 9 and 10, Township 28 North, Range 5 East, the following statement: "Often in my work in various Townships in this (Wayne) County, I find that the U.S.D.S. in running the East and West lines at random or trial lines only ran from the section corners East at right angles to their North and South lines and at 40.00 chains set 1/4 section corners and mark the witness trees and return West to the section corners without having run the East half of their random lines."
SUPPOSITION:
B. The closing lines in Township 28 North, Range 5 East were not actually surveyed by Mr. Barton because neither we nor earlier surveyors find any evidence of the original closing corner monumentation.
FACT:
1. On May 7th, 1901, H. C. Wilkinson, County Surveyor, records in his notes while surveying the line North between sections 4 and 5, Township 28 North, Range 5 East, the following statement: "85.00 chains set post, no witness trees found nor the Township line. Neither did we find any of the original blazes on this line."
2. On May 8th, 1901, H. C. Wilkinson, County Surveyor, records in his field notes while surveying the lines North from the quarter corner between sections 5 and 6, Township 28 North, Range 5 East: "38.19 3/4 chains, post on the true Township line. Here we could not find any evidence of any witness trees as called for in the U. S. Field Notes. Neither could we find any satisfactory evidence of the original blazes along this line North from the quarter section corner between sections 6 and 5, Township 28 North, Range 5 East to this point. The U. S. Field Notes state that this corner of section 6 and 5, Township 28 North, Range 5 East is 22 links East of the corner to sections 31 and 32, Township 29 North, Range 5 East. We went to that corner, but could not find any evidence of the witness trees as stated. We measured West ver. 4° East along the true Township line 10.17 3/4 chains set a stone at the point of intersection of our line coming North from the quarter section corner between sections 6 and 5, Township 28 North, Range 5 East 38.19 3/4 chains, and 1,017 3/4 links West of the corner to Sections 31 and 32 in Township 29 North, Range 5 East. I set this stone for the corner of sections 6 and 5, Township 28 North, Range 5 East in the presence of: B. B. Sheets, A. P. Philips, Josh Allen, Billy Allen, W. Thos. Sidwell, Jas. Hawkins, Jim Hawkins."
3. The Missouri Land Survey has made an extensive field search for the following corners:
Corner of Sections 19 & 30, Twp. 28 N., Rge. 5 E., Index #R-1
Corner of Sections 18 & 19, Twp. 28 N., Rge. 5 E., Index #N-1
Corner of Sections 13 & 24, Twp. 28 N., Rge. 4 E., Index #N-25
Corner of Sections 24 & 25, Twp. 28 N., Rge. 4 E., Index #R-25
Evidence was found for the adjoining standard corner at the Corner of Sections 24 & 25, Township 28 North, Range 4 East, Index #R-25, but no evidence of the original closing corner was found.
SUPPOSITION:
C. The closing lap distance on the range line as shown in the field notes was not actually measured. If they were actually reproduced on the ground, the direction of the closing line would not match with the directions of lines in the rest of the Township.
FACT:
1. According to the May 8th, 1901 survey by H. C. Wilkinson, he changed the falling distance from 22 links East of the corner of Section 31 and 32 to 1,017 3/4 links West rather than place a bend in the section line at the quarter section corner between sections 5 and 6, Township 28 North, Range 5 East. (See B (2) above).
2. Linn E. Toler, Surveyor, John L. Wilkinson, Wayne County Surveyor, and Harry D. Griffith, Iron County Surveyor, executed a survey in 1910 of a portion of Township 30 North, Range 3 and 4 East. This survey shows that the three surveyors maintained that the closing section lines should be straight lines and therefore the falling distances on the Range line as recorded in the field notes were changed.
COMPARISON OF THE CLOSING LINES FALLING DISTANCES ON THE
RANGE LINE BETWEEN RANGES 3 AND 4 EAST, TOWNSHIP 30 NORTH
FALLING DISTANCES ON THE RANGE LINE
1821 G.L.O. 1910 SURVEY BY
ON THE FOLLOWING LINES: SURVEY BY BARTON COUNTY SURVEYORS
West between Sections 19 & 30 27 Lks South 612.5 Lks South
West between Sections 19 & 18 27 Lks South 809 Lks South
West between Sections 7 & 18 30 Lks South 1,006 Lks South
West between Sections 6 & 7 27 Lks South 1,203 Lks South
3. County Survey No. 274 made March 4th, 1885 by County Surveyor H. C. Wilkinson in Township 29 North, Range 6 East makes the following statement: "I am not sure of the correctness of this corner because of the false notes as to the laps between the corner of Sections 35 an 36, Township 30 North, Range 6 East and Sections 2 and 1, Township 29 North, Range 6 East. The witness trees being all gone at last named corner. The U. S. Field Notes give the distance between said corners to be only 10 links which certainly is an error. Also at Section corner 34 and 35, Township 30 North, Range 6 East the corner of Sections 2 and 3, Township 29 North, Range 6 East is given in U. S. Field Notes to be 25 links which I have proven to be an error or false statement."
Mr. Wilkinson established the corner of 2 and 3 453 links West of the corner to Sections 34 and 35 and the corner to Sections 1 and 2, 210 links West of the corner to Sections 35 and 36 so the lines he was running would fit the scheme of the township.
4. In August, 1899, H. C. Wilkinson executed a survey in Section 30 and 31, Township 29 North, Range 7 East to locate the Greenville and St. Louis Railroad. He found the lap distance between the closing corner of Sections 30 and 31, Township 29 North, Range 7 East and the corner of Sections 25 and 36, Township 29 North, Range 6 East to be 416 1/2 links where it was recorded to be 52 links in the Government Notes. He established the Blank Quarter Corner of section 30, Township 29 North, Range 7 East accordingly, 416 1/2 links South of the Quarter Corner of Section 25, Township 29 North, Range 6 East.
5. H. C. Wilkinson performed a survey in 1906 of Section 19, Township 29 North, Range 7 East. He found evidence of both the closing corner of Sections 19 and 30, Township 29 North, Range 7 East and the corner of Sections 24 and 25, Township 29 North, Range 6 East. He measured the lap distance to be 596 2/3 links where in the Government Field Notes it was recorded as 100 links.
SUPPOSITION:
D. K. W. Barton's records show that he was able to measure many more miles of line on those days in which he had closing lines. This excess mileage may be attributed to his not actually measuring the closing lines.
1. Mr. Barton began the subdivision of Township 28 North, Range 5 East on June 5th, 1821 and ran four (4) miles that day. June 6th, Mr. Barton ran seven (7) miles the last mile being the closing line between sections 1 and 2. June 7th, Mr. Barton ran six (6) miles. June 8th, Mr. Barton ran seven (7) miles, the last mile being the closing line between section 2 and 3. June 9th, 10th, and 11th he ran six (6) miles each day. June 12th, he records seven (7) miles, the last mile being the closing line between section 3 and 4. June 13th, Mr. Barton records the running of nine (9) miles including the closing lines between sections 18 and 19, and the line between sections 7 and 18, this day also includes the travel of 3.5 miles across the Township. June 16th, 1821, he records the remaining four (4) miles of the subdivision of the Township.
The Missouri Land Survey has developed evidence that substantiates the fact that surveys made by Mr. K. W. Barton during 1821 were, in a large part, erroneously conducted. A more detailed survey of all of the Townships involved would most likely show many other examples of the same kind of inconsistencies that we have highlighted in this report. It is important for those people working with the original government survey in these areas to be aware of these errors and their source. Obviously, each corner must be evaluated individually. Nevertheless, the informaton we have presented clearly indicates that caution should be utilized in evaluating the original government survey notes and plats in these areas.
We, the undersigned surveyors, do hereby certify that the foregoing instrument was filed for record with the STATE LAND SURVEY on the 29th day of July, 1985.
{signed} Robert E. Myers, Date: 7/26/85
{signed} Orvis D. Lashley, Date: 7/26/1985
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Transcribed by Steven E. Weible
