Because of this infidelity on the part of some of the Spanish officials, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, was very concerned about the Archive of Surveys that was still in the custody of Antoine Soulard, the former Surveyor General of the Spanish Province of Upper Louisiana. Mr. Gallatin urgently wanted to replace Soulard and to recover the records in his possession (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 432-435).
After the United States had taken possession of Upper Louisiana on March 10, 1804, Captain Amos Stoddard, exercising the functions of civil commandant, chose to retain Soulard as the temporary depository of the Survey Archives (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 533 & Vol. 14, pg 32). William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, had subsequently commissioned Soulard in October 1804 to continue in the capacity of Surveyor General for the district of Louisiana (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 71, 81). General James Wilkinson, who had become governor of the Territory of Louisiana in July 1805 (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 98), chose to continue Soulard in the office to which he had been appointed by Governor Harrison (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 175), so that Soulard continued in possession of the Survey Archives.
Meanwhile, the Board of Commissioners for ascertaining and adjusting land titles that was assembled in accordance with the act of March 2, 1805, chapter 26, had commenced their work in December 1805. Within months several issues pertaining to surveys were identified that needed legislative attention. First, the act of March 26, 1804, chapter 38, prohibited surveys from being performed, while the act of March 2, 1805, chapter 26, required a plat to be filed with the recorder of land titles. What if a survey had not yet been performed, so that none could be filed with the recorder of land titles? Next, the Recorder of Land Titles, James L. Donaldson, had refused to accept surveys performed by private surveyors, believing that the fourth section of the act of March 2, 1805, chapter 26, required a plat prepared by a duly appointed officer (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 497-498). Governor Wilkinson had in fact issued a proclamation on November 4, 1805, prohibiting surveys by anyone but those authorized by the Surveyor General of the Territory (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 264). Were private surveys to be accepted or not? It was anticipated that surveys would be needed, but who was the proper person to perform them? (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 432-435).
In response to these concerns Congress passed the act of February 28, 1806, chapter 11, An Act extending the powers of the Surveyor-general to the territory of Louisiana; and for other purposes (U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, pg 352). This act provided for a principal deputy surveyor to reside in the territory of Louisiana and to operate under the superintendence of the surveyor-general of the United States, who was then in Ohio. The principal deputy surveyor was to execute, or cause to be executed by deputies, surveys as may be authorized by law or as requested by the Board of Commissioners. He was also to take possession of all of the records of the Surveyor General of the Spanish Province of Upper Louisiana. The Board of Commissioners was authorized to request surveys as they deemed necessary for the purpose of deciding upon claims before them. Any such survey was considered a private survey only and a re-survey under the authority of the surveyor-general would be required, if the claim was confirmed. The Act also repealed the requirement of a plat of survey as evidence, if a survey had not been performed before December 20, 1803.
Compensation was to be paid for surveys actually run, an amount not to exceed 3 dollars per mile. The principal deputy surveyor was also entitled to receive a fee for examining and recording surveys performed by deputies and for providing a certified copy of any plot of survey in his office. Those fees were 25 cents for every mile of boundary for examination and recording and 25 cents for each certified copy. While the bill for this act was being considered by the U.S. Senate, an amendment was added to provide a salary for the principal deputy surveyor. The amendment, however, was rejected and the act was passed without it (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 448; Senate Journal, Vol. 4, pg 38, 45).
In a letter, dated March 25, 1806, Mr. Gallatin urged Jared Mansfield, Surveyor General of the United States, to immediately appoint a principal deputy surveyor for the Territory of Louisiana. Mr. Gallatin wanted the new appointee to proceed to St. Louis without delay so as to recover the records from Antoine Soulard as soon as possible (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 461).
In a letter to the Board of Commissioners of the same date, Mr. Gallatin informed them that as a result of the recent act a plat of survey was no longer required, if a tract had not been surveyed under the authority of the proper Spanish Officer before December 20, 1803. He also advised them that they were authorized to direct the principal deputy surveyor to perform any surveys that they deemed necessary in order to complete their business. He cautioned them, however, to request surveys only when necessary so as not to harass the claimants with repeated surveys. Also, since any surveys that had already been done and any surveys to be done by the principal deputy surveyor were to be considered private surveys subject to resurvey, it did not matter whether a previous survey was performed under the authority of the proper Spanish Officer or by a private surveyor (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 460).
Jared Mansfield responded to Mr. Gallatin on June 14, 1806, expressing his intent to appoint Silas Bent of Belprie, Washington County, Ohio as principal deputy surveyor for the Territory of Louisiana. Mr. Bent had previously been employed by Mansfield in surveying the public lands and was serving as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the county of his residence (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 519). Mr. Gallatin responded on July 3, 1806, approving the appointment and expressing dissatisfaction that his directive had not been carried out immediately upon receipt (Territorial Papers, Vol. 13, pg 536).
Silas Bent reported to Jared Mansfield in a letter, dated September 22, 1806, that he had arrived in St. Louis on September 17 and had visited Antoine Soulard to recover the records that had been in his possession. Soulard had been ordered on May 3, 1806 by Governor Wilkinson to cease operation as Surveyor General of the Territory of Louisiana (ASP:PL, Vol. 8, pg 866) and had already surrendered the records to the Board of Commissioners. Bent next visited the Board of Commissioners, advised them of his office and requested that the appropriate records be delivered to him. At the leisure of the Board and their clerk the records were eventually released to him, but no requests for surveys were forthcoming. This put Mr. Bent in a difficult position, since his compensation relied upon requests for surveys from the Board of Commissioners. The Board of Commissioners, however, had been cautioned by Mr. Gallatin to request them only when necessary. Mr. Bent concluded his letter of September 22, 1806 to Jared Mansfield with the statement that “This afords but a dark prospect for the present support of my young family in this most expensive Country” (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 8).
Silas Bent wrote to Jared Mansfield again on September 28, 1806, reporting that “Nothing relative to my Official duties has taken place since I wrote You – Judge Lucas wishes resurveys made and a general investigation, but the other Commissioners pass the Business over” (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 12). In a letter, dated October 13, 1806, he further stated to Jared Mansfield that “I have had no Business for which the Law entitles me to a single Cent and have no prospect of any – I do not know what to do in this unfortunate situation – my children remain unwell ” (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 14).
By late October 1806 James L. Donaldson, the Recorder of Land Titles, had left the Territory (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 21, 27, 64). Following his departure, the remaining commissioners, Judge John B. C. Lucas and Clement B. Penrose, received new instructions from the Secretary of the Treasury that would necessitate a revision of nearly all of the decisions that had already been made (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 19). As a result of these circumstances, the Board of Commissioners essentially ceased operation until they received further direction from the Secretary as to how to proceed (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 27, 36, 40).
Jared Mansfield attempted to intercede on Mr. Bent’s behalf by informing Mr. Gallatin of the circumstances in letters, dated October 16, 1806, October 30, 1806 and November 1, 1806 (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 15, 22, 25). He even advocated for Mr. Bent to the President of the United States in a letter, dated October 31, 1806 (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 23).
William Carr, the agent for the United States in the Territory of Louisiana, also chipped in his comments to Mr. Gallatin in a letter, dated November 20, 1806, in which he observed that “If the power of the surveyor general is by law to be extended to this territory; a principal deputy surveyor appointed, who by his instructions is urged in the most pressing manner to repair immediately to St. Louis, to open and keep, an office there; & the Commissioners are not to continue their sessions, this act of Congress will remain inefficient and without execution – This principal deputy Surveyor, as an officer of the government certainly could not be expected to remove his family to this place; open an office and Continue it here entirely at his own expence; & that too for the expectation of obtaining the compensation allowed by law, whenever it should please the board of commissioners, to afford him any employment – which compensation will be found upon reflection and examination not to be half equivalent to the expences attendant on the discharge of the duties assigned him by Law. More especially in this country where the Tracts of land to be surveyed are scattered over the whole face of the territory and many of them situated at a great distance from the surveyor’s place of residence; where no travelling expences to and from the land to be surveyed are allowed and where labour and expences of every kind are excessively high” (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 36).
In a letter to Jared Mansfield, dated December 9, 1806, Silas Bent remained hopeful that appropriate intervention would “perhaps turn what has been unfavorable hitherto, very much to my advantage in the end ” (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 51).
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| Signature of Silas Bent, Principal Deputy Surveyor (image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey) |
SOURCES
American State Papers: Public Lands (ASP:PL)
The Territorial Papers of the United States, compiled by Clarence Edwin Carter, 1948
U. S. Statutes at Large
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original composition by Steven E. Weible
