The final report of the Board of Revision was expected to reach Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin around the first of March 1812 (Marshall, Vol. 2, pg 216). Soon after the report arrived at its destination, those having certificates for confirmed claims began requesting patents. The land descriptions in the certificates were vague, however, having no reference to adjoining tracts or any common point. By April 1812 Secretary Gallatin had refused to issue any more patents based on these vague descriptions. It was clear that the boundary surveys would have to be completed before the tracts of land could be given a definite location. Thus Secretary Gallatin wanted the principal deputy surveyor to survey all of the confirmed claims, connecting them relative to one another (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 546).
Section five of the Act of June 13, 1812, chapter 99 (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, pg 748), directed the principal deputy surveyor to survey into townships as much land as may be directed by the President of the United States along with all of the confirmed private claims that had not already been surveyed under the authority of the United States. The principal deputy surveyor was further directed to make out a “general and connected plat” of all of the surveys to be made by him along with all those that had already been made.
Meanwhile, the General Land Office was created by the Act of April 25, 1812, chapter 68, An Act for the establishment of a General Land Office in the Department of the Treasury (U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, pg 716). Edward Tiffin from Ohio was nominated by President James Madison to be Commissioner of the General Land Office and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 6, 1812 (Senate Executive Journal, Vol. 2, pg 262-263). His duties were to manage all activities relating to the public lands of the United States and other lands patented or granted by the United States, as had previously been handled by the offices of the Secretary of State, Secretary and Register of the Treasury and Secretary of War.
Later in 1812 Jared Mansfield resigned as Surveyor General of the United States and returned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to take the position of professor of natural and experimental philosophy, which had been newly created by the Act of April 29, 1812, chapter 72 (U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, pg 720). Josiah Meigs from Georgia was nominated by President James Madison to replace Mansfield and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 16, 1812 (Senate Executive Journal, Vol. 2, pg 303-304). On November 24, 1812, Edward Tiffin sent Meigs his commission and directed him to go to Cincinnati, Ohio, to assume his duties. Tiffin expected that there should be general instructions in the office as had been given to Mansfield by the Secretary of the Treasury to provide Meigs sufficient guidance and direction. Meigs arrived in Cincinnati on March 22, 1813 to find that the first clerk of the office had died (Territorial Papers, Vol. 8, pg 215).
Understandably, Josiah Meigs was uncertain as to how he should proceed. He would later write to Edward Tiffin, “I hope you will not think me timid if I ask you direction for my Conduct” (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 691). He desperately wanted Mansfield to come back and explain it all to him (Territorial Papers, Vol. 8, pag 215).
In a letter to Meigs, dated June 22, 1813, Principal Deputy Surveyor Silas Bent expressed his concerns about the surveys to be done in the Territory of Missouri. He emphasized his belief that the public lands and the confirmed private claims should be surveyed at the same time. The township and section lines would serve as a framework on which to connect the private claims and a means to check for and detect errors in the measurements. He advocated for a system of meridian and standard lines such as had been implemented by Jared Mansfield for the public lands in the Territories of Indiana and Illinois. He was concerned, though, that the area over which the private claims were scattered was too extensive to have authorized, since the President of the United States would have to direct that it be done (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 681).
Bent noted that it might be difficult to run a meridian north from the south boundary of the territory because of the damage done by the New Madrid earthquakes, which had continued over the past eighteen months. It might, therefore, be better to establish the meridian north of that area and then push it to the south. He concluded his letter by stating that it was not an easy matter to find an exceptional solution that would satisfy all the concerns related to the survey of the private claims (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 681).
Meigs further solicited the opinions of William Rector, a deputy surveyor working in the Kaskaskia District of the Territory of Illinois, as to the best plan for surveying the confirmed private claims in the Territory of Missouri. Rector responded in a letter, dated July 24, 1813, advocating for reckoning the ranges from the Third Principal Meridian in the Territory of Illinois and extending its Base Line across the Mississippi River into the Territory of Missouri. His reasoning rested on the belief that the extension of an existing system would cause less confusion than the introduction of a new one. Rector stressed the necessity of surveying enough township exteriors so as to enclose the confirmed private claims before any of those claims were surveyed. Once the township exteriors were in place, the private claims could then be surveyed and referenced to them. It would not be necessary to further divide the townships into sections at that time unless there were only a few private claims in the township (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 688). This plan would be sufficient to prepare a connected plat of the private claims to meet the immediate need for issuing patents. The townships could then be subdivided into sections at a later time to facilitate the sales of the intervening public lands.
Meigs forwarded the comments from Bent and Rector to Edward Tiffin in a letter, dated July 26, 1813, noting that he approved of Rector’s idea to use the Third Principal Meridian and its Base Line, which, he stated, was located about 24 miles south of the mouth of the Missouri River. He further noted that, if the entire area between the Arkansas River and the Missouri River was to be surveyed into townships, it would probably be advantageous to run a second Base Line about 150 to 160 miles south of the mouth of the Missouri River (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 690).
Edward Tiffin responded by letter, dated August 12, 1813, inquiring of Meigs whether he had found any instructions in his office pertaining to the surveying of the public lands, confirmed private claims and donation claims in the Territory of Missouri. Neither the Secretary of the Treasury nor the President of the United States was available at that time to give direction, so no surveying could be authorized to proceed. Tiffin, however, offered his own observations, noting that he agreed with Silas Bent that the public lands and the confirmed private claims should be surveyed at the same time. He thought that the Base Line of the Third Principal Meridian was too far north and wondered if it would be better instead to run a new Base Line west from the mouth of the Ohio River. He also suggested that it might be better to run a meridian north from about the mouth of the Arkansas River instead of pushing it south from a point on the Missouri River (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 695).
Meigs replied on August 24, 1813, reporting that he had found no particular instructions in his office relative to surveys in the Territory of Missouri, but that Secretary Gallatin had wholly approved of the system devised by Jared Mansfield. He conceded that Tiffin’s ideas appeared correct, being consistent with the plan that Mansfield had implemented. He also noted that he had designated William Rector to replace Silas Bent as Principal Deputy Surveyor in the Territory of Missouri. Bent had been commissioned in February 1813 as a Judge of the Superior Court of the Territory of Missouri (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 631) and could no longer give his full attention to the duties of Principal Deputy Surveyor. Consequently, the acting Secretary of the Treasury had ordered a replacement (Territorial Papers, Vol. 16, pg 355).
William Rector was commissioned on September 14, 1813 (Territorial Papers, Vol. 15, pg 345) and assumed his new duties in St. Louis in November 1813. On November 18, 1813, he reported to Josiah Meigs that he had received from Silas Bent all of the papers belonging to the Principal Deputy Surveyor. Having reviewed the information and become more acquainted with the work for which he was now responsible, he affirmed his belief that townships should be laid out before any of the confirmed private claims were surveyed. He had consulted with men familiar with the territory and had developed an idea of the limits of the area that would include the majority of the confirmed private claims. The area was bounded on the north by an east-west line about 50 miles north of St. Louis, on the west by a north-south line about 60 miles west of St. Louis, on the south by the Arkansas River and on the east by the Mississippi River (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 707, 709).
During this time, the United States was fighting the War of 1812. Congress had declared war with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland by the Act of June 18, 1812, chapter 102 (U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, pg 755). Most of the battles between the U.S. and British militaries were fought around the Great Lakes and along the Atlantic coast. The frontiers of the northwest and the Mississippi Valley, however, were kept in a constant state of alarm by hostile Indians, who were being supplied and encouraged by the British. As a result, the prospects for surveying in the Territory of Missouri were doubtful and no appropriations were made by Congress (Territorial Papers, Vol. 14, pg 766).
In preparation for the expected war, Congress had passed the Act of December 24, 1811, chapter 10, An Act for completing the existing Military Establishment (U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, pg 669) and the Act of January 11, 1812, chapter 14, An Act to raise an additional Military Force (U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, pg 671). Each effective, able-bodied man, who enlisted in the military as a non-commissioned officer or soldier and faithfully discharged his duty during his term of service, was promised 160 acres of land. The Act of May 6, 1812, chapter 77, An Act to provide for designating, surveying and granting the Military Bounty Lands (U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, pg 728), reserved a total of six million acres of land, fit for cultivation, to satisfy the bounties promised to soldiers. Of that total, two million acres were to be located in the Territory of Missouri between the St. Francis River and the Arkansas River. The lands so designated were to be laid off into townships and subdivided into sections and then quarter sections of 160 acres.
While the war stymied surveying activities in the Territory of Missouri, there were some changes ahead that would affect its administration in the future. On March 28, 1814 Edward Tiffin wrote to President James Madison, lobbying for an exchange of positions with Josiah Meigs. He stated, “I am sure I fully comprehend the principles upon which Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Mansfield the former Surveyor General acted relative to the surveys in the western country and ... that I could have the work done, and the returns made, at least equally as well, if not in a superior manner to what it has ever yet been, north west of the Ohio” (Madison Papers). Josiah Meigs followed up with a letter to the President, dated April 3, 1814, indicating that “If, in the opinion of the President and Senate, this would advance the public interest, it would be acceptable to the Subscriber” (Madison Papers).
On Monday, October 10, 1814, Meigs resigned as Surveyor General of the United States and Tiffin resigned as Commissioner of the General Land Office (Madison Papers). On that same day President Madison presented nominations to the U.S. Senate for their new positions. The Senate confirmed the appointments the next day on October 11, 1814 (Senate Executive Journal, Vol. 2, pg 534; Territorial Papers, Vol. 8, pg 313).
After the war had ended, Josiah Meigs, as Commissioner of the General Land Office, wrote to the President on March 6, 1815, concerning the surveys of the military bounty lands. For the surveys in the Territory of Missouri, he suggested establishing a meridian line run north from the mouth of White River (Territorial Papers, Vol. 10, pg 514). On March 9, 1815, Edward Tiffin, as Surveyor General of the United States, wrote to Meigs, proposing to run a base line west from the mouth of the St. Francis River to the Arkansas River. This base line would be the base from which to begin the surveys of the military bounty lands (Territorial Papers, Vol. 10, pg 515).
Meigs wrote to Tiffin on March 23, 1815, stating that the surveys of the military bounty lands were a high priority, but that he would need to consult with the President on how to proceed in the Territory of Missouri. He also directed that the Principal Deputy Surveyor should survey into townships and sections as much as was needed to include the majority of the confirmed private claims. This was also a high priority, because of the outcry from the claimants who couldn’t get their patents until the surveys were completed (Territorial Papers, Vol. 17, pg 154). Meigs wrote to Tiffin again on March 24, 1815, advising that upon further consideration, he thought it would be proper to have a Standard Meridian run from the confluence of the Arkansas River and the Mississippi River with a parallel run west from the mouth of the St. Francis River for the surveys of the military bounty lands (Territorial Papers, Vol. 15, pg 20).
Meigs further inquired of William Rector about a plan for surveying the townships needed to connect the confirmed private claims. Rector responded on April 17, 1815 still committed to extending the surveys from the Third Principal Meridian. He proposed to start in the Illinois Territory where the south boundary of Township 2 South intersected the Mississippi River. He proposed to extend that line west across the river (somehow), set a township corner and then mark off eight ranges (48 miles) west. From that endpoint he proposed to mark the range line (or meridian line) south until it intersected either the Mississippi River or the Arkansas River and north until it intersected the River Jeffreon (the identity of which is uncertain). Next, he proposed that township lines (or correction lines) be marked off east of his meridian line to intersect the Mississippi River. The first correction line would be seven townships (42 miles) north of his base line and the rest would be every sixth township (36 miles) south of his base line. The correction line at 36 townships (216 miles) south of his base line would be extended west until it intersected the Arkansas River. His base line would also be extended west for an additional 12 ranges (72 miles). The correction line seven townships (42 miles) north of his base line would be extended west until it intersected the Indian boundary, which would have to be marked north from the bank of the Missouri River across from the mouth of the Gasconade River. Setting up a framework such as this would allow several deputies to simultaneously begin laying off the townships so that the confirmed private claims could be surveyed (Territorial Papers, Vol. 15, pg 26).
On July 26, 1815 Edward Tiffin wrote to Josiah Meigs informing him that instructions had been prepared for William Rector to survey the two million acres for military bounty lands. A meridian line was to be accurately run due North from the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers far enough to intersect a base line run due West from the confluence of the St. Francis and Mississippi Rivers. The bounty lands were then to be laid off from these base and meridian lines. Tiffin also noted, “I have been assured by every one acquainted with the lower country that on account of the Inundations, the undergrowth, weeds & Flies of various descriptions, no mortal man could take the woods before October either North of the Illinois or in Missouri” (Territorial Papers, Vol. 15, pg 72 & Vol. 17, pg 203).
Tiffin wrote to Meigs again on August 29, 1815 informing him that William Rector had been further directed to lay off a number of Ranges and to run the exterior boundaries of about 200 townships so that the confirmed private claims could be surveyed (Territorial Papers, Vol. 15, pg 79).
On October 9, 1815 William Rector entered into contracts for the surveys of the Fifth Principal Meridian, its Base Line and the military bounty lands. Prospect K. Robbins was contracted to survey “a line due North agreeably to the true meridian, from the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers to the Southerly bank of the Missouri river, which said line is known and termed on the annexed plat - The fifth principal meridian” (MoSLS microfiche: 720/3286B3). Joseph C. Brown was contracted to “survey a Base Line due west, from the mouth of the St. Francis river to the Arkansas River...” He was further instructed to lay off a number of township exteriors south of the Base Line and east of the Fifth Principal Meridian and then to subdivide into sections other townships south of the Base Line and west of the Fifth Principal Meridian. He was also instructed to “lay out and Survey all the confirmed claims of individuals for land that may fall or lye within the Townships above mentioned that are to be subdivided (if any there be) and lay said surveys of claims down connectedly on the plats of the Townships ...” (Territorial Papers, Vol. 15, pg 89).
Additional contracts were made with other deputy surveyors to lay out the township exteriors and to subdivide the townships for the military bounty lands. These deputy surveyors included: Byrd and Charles Lockhart, October 12, 1815; Daniel and John C. Sullivan, October 17, 1815; William L. May and Nelson Rector, October 25, 1815; Angus L. Langham, October 25, 1815; Stephen Rector, October 27, 1815; Thomas Cox, November 1, 1815; Elias Rector and Gabriel Field, November 4, 1815; Stephen Hempstead, November 7, 1815; and Henry Elliott, November 17, 1815. William Russell was contracted on December 2, 1815 to survey all of the private claims that had been confirmed by the Board of Revision that were located within the area being laid off for military bounties between the Arkansas River and the St. Francis River (Territorial Papers, Vol. 15, pg 91).
On January 15, 1816, William Rector reported to Edward Tiffin that the Fifth Principal Meridian had been surveyed from the confluence of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers to the south bank of the Missouri River, a total of three hundred and seventeen miles 32 chains and 76 links. The intersection with the south bank of the Missouri River was located about thirty-six miles west of St. Louis. He further reported that the Base Line had been surveyed from the mouth of the St. Francis River to the Arkansas River, a length of 84.5 miles (Territorial Papers, Vol. 15, pg 103). With a reference system now established, the surveys of the confirmed private claims could proceed with earnest.
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Fifth Principal Meridian at the west side of Township 21 North, Range 1 East
at the Missouri-Arkansas state line from 1850 township plat.
(Courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey) |
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Fifth Principal Meridian at the west side of Township 44 North, Range 1 East
where it intersects the south bank of the Missouri River on the 1853 township plat.
(Courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey) |
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Fifth Principal Meridian at the east side of Township 44 North, Range 1 West
where it intersects the south bank of the Missouri River on the 1853 township plat.
(Courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey) |
SOURCES
Marshall, Thomas Maitland, The Life and Papers of Frederick Bates, Missouri Historical Society, 1926
Madison Papers
Senate Executive Journal
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
