SURVEYING

Land surveying combines the art of making measurements with the science of mathematics, and land surveys have been performed from the beginnings of recorded history. From the Old Testament, we find “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (Deuteronomy 27:17)

The surveying of land for the purposes of ownership, transfer and taxation of land, and for construction of structures and public works appears to have originated in ancient Egypt. The earliest recorded accounts of property surveys are Egyptian. The ancient Egyptians respected land ownership and records of land surveys have been found on 4000-year-old clay tablets. Some of the boundary monuments set as early as 1300 BC still exist today, and recent distance measurements between them agree accurately with the ancient records.

In ancient Egypt there were defined social classes which were dictated by an Egyptian's profession. Above the laborers and the craftsmen and below the priests, architects and doctors were the scribes. The scribes were the only Egyptians who knew how to read and write, and therefore did the calculations, drew up the plans and surveyed the sites of the monuments, temples, and pyramids of ancient Egypt.

Like the ancient Egyptians, the Romans are also well known for their great construction projects. The Romans, however, concentrated on public works and the infrastructure of the Empire. The vast civil engineering projects, such as the aqueducts, bridges and immense road system (“all roads lead to Rome”) could not have been built without the surveyors. The fact that many of these great works are still in use today, over 2000 years later, is a testament to the soundness of their design, layout and construction.

Throughout the ancient civilizations of the world, from the Egyptians and Romans to the Far East, and Aztecs, Incas and Mayans of the Americas, astronomers, architects and surveyors have laid out structures for observing the heavens, worshiping their gods, and serving the daily needs their societies.

SURVEYING THE NEW WORLD

HISTORY OF THE COLONIAL SURVEYS

From the text “CLARK on Surveying and Boundaries”:

All of the land south of what is now Canada and east of the Mississippi River with the exception of what is roughly now Florida and Louisiana had, by 1765, become basically the property of the British crown. By that date the thirteen colonies had been organized and much of the land embraced therein had passed into private hands by royal grants either to individuals or directly to the colonies and thence to individuals. But substantial areas were still crown lands. Under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, all of the crown land became the property of the colony in which it was situated. This was done by a blanket grant without description.

None of these state-owned lands within the confines of the original colonies nor within the present states of Maine, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia were transferred to the national government by the blanket transfers when the United States Constitution was adopted.

At this time much of the land in the original colonies was in the hands of private individuals who had received it either from the British crown or from colonial grants. This was all by metes and bounds, course and distance, and descriptions, many not too accurate or clear.

HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC LANDS SURVEYS

Due to the westward expansion of the United States, beginning in the 1700’s, the need arose to survey and map vast areas of land in the most efficient way possible. This need led to what is known as the “Rectangular System” or “Sectionalized Land System”. This system was adopted by Congress on the 7th of May, 1785, and has been in use ever since for describing and dividing lands for almost all areas outside the original thirteen states.

The surveys, sometimes referred to as the “Congressional Surveys” are generally based on latitude and longitude, and the grid that they form. Principal Meridians which run north and south, and Base Lines which run east and west, form the basis or foundation for the surveys or measurement of all the lands within the territory or land district which they control.

Beginning at the Principal Meridian, lines are run north and south, parallel to the Meridian at six-mile intervals. This plan is followed both east and

west of the Meridian throughout the territory controlled by the Meridian. These lines are termed "Range Lines", and they divide the land into strips or divisions six miles wide, extending North and South, parallel with the Meridian. Each division is called a Range. Ranges are numbered from one upward, east or west from the Meridian.

As with the Principal Meridian and the Range Lines, lines are also run east and west, parallel to the Base Line at six mile intervals. This plan is followed both north and south of the Base Line throughout the territory controlled by the Base Line. These lines are termed "Township Lines", and they divide the land into strips or divisions six miles wide, extending north and south, parallel with the Base Line. Each division is called a Township, and is numbered from one upward, north or south from the Base Line.

These Township and Range Lines crossing each other, form squares which are called "Townships" or "Government Townships," which are six miles square, or as nearly as it is possible to make them. Townships are the largest subdivisions of land run out by the US Government Surveyors. Problems encountered in the use of this system, such as the presence of lakes and large streams, State boundaries not falling exactly on Township Lines, or by the convergence of Meridians due to the curvature of the earth's surface were dealt with using strict rules laid down by the Bureau Of Land Management.

Each Township is divided into 36 squares, which are called “Sections”. These Sections are intended to be one mile square and contain 640 acres of land. Sections are numbered consecutively from 1 to 36. The Sections were the smallest unit of land to be laid out and marked by the Government surveyors.

Sections could then be further subdivided into quarters and “quarter quarters”. Thus with the Townships and Sections, each parcel of land could be uniquely described with descriptions such as: “The northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 16, Township 2 South, Range 3 East”, of a given land district (NE ¼ of SW ¼ of Sect. 16, T2S, R3E).

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Penn, in 1681, obtained a grant from Charles II to the lands roughly falling within the state of Pennsylvania in cancellation of a debt owed by the monarch to Penn’s father. Some of the land so granted had been the subject of earlier Dutch and New York grants. A large area was also claimed by Connecticut by an earlier royal grant. In the year 1684, Penn began to grant warrants and patents for lands in his province as “true and absolute proprietor and governor.” This was continued until 1779, at which time the assembly passed an act for “vesting the lands of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania in the commonwealth.” Manors and proprietary tenths, which had been surveyed and returned prior to July 4, 1776 and private estates were exempted from this act. The act authorized the payment of 130,000 pounds to the heirs of Thomas and Richard Penn, "late proprietaries, as compensation for their lands.”

Penn strengthened his title by the celebrated “Walking Purchase,” from the Delaware Indians: “as far as a man can go in one day and an half” The Delawares were amazed at the speed of Penn’s walkers.

TREATIES AND PURCHASES

“In connection with the subject of lands in the Commonwealth, their extent and limits, as purchased from the Indians, history records that from the arrival of William Markham, Deputy of William Penn, until the year 1792, a period of one hundred and ten years, the whole right of soil of the Indians within the charter bounds of Pennsylvania, was extinguished by the following thirty-three treaties and purchases:”

1682, July 15	Deed for lands between the falls of Delaware and Neshammonys Creek, confirmed by William Penn, October 24, 1682.
1683, June 23	Deed for “lands lying betwixt Pemmapecka and Neshemineh Creek * * * and backward of the same, and to run two days journey with a horse, up into the country as the said River doth go.”
1683, June 25	Wingebone’s release for lands “lying on the west side of the Schuylkill, beginning from the first falls * * * and backward of the same as far as my right goeth.”
1683, July 14	Deed for lands between Schuylkill and Chester Rivers.
1683, July14	Deed for lands between Schuylkill and Pemmapecka Creeks.
1683, Sept. 10	Keketappan’s deed “for his half of all his lands betwixt Susquehanna and Delaware which lieth on the Susquehanna side.
1683, Oct. 18	Machaloha’s deed “for lands from the Delaware River and Chesapeak Bay, and up to the Falls of the Susquehanna.”
1684, June 3	Manghougsin’s deed “for all his land on Perkioming.”
1684, June 7	Richard Mettamicont’s release “for lands on both sides Pemmapecka Creek on the Delaware.”
1685, July 30	Deed for lands “between Pemmapecka and Chester Creeks, and back * * * as far as a man can go in two days” from a point on Conshohockin Hill.
1685, Oct. 2	Deed for lands between Duck and Chester Creeks, and backward from Delaware, “ as far as a man could ride in two days with a horse.”
1692, June 15	Acknowledgement of satisfaction for land “lying between Neshamina and Poquessing * * * and extending backwards to the utmost bounds of the Province.
1696, Jan. 13	Col. Thomas Dongan’s, formerly Governor of New York, deed to William Penn for lands on both sides of Susquehanna, from the lakes to the “Chesapeak Bay.”
1697, July 5	Taminy’s deed for the lands between Pemmopeck and Neshaminy, and “as far back as a horse can travel in two summer days.”
1700, Sept. 13	Deed of the Susquehanna Indians for the land on “both sides of the Susquehanna and next adjoining the same, and comprising Dongan’s Deed.” (No. 13)
1701, April 23	Ratification of Dongan’s deed and the deed of September 13, 1700 (No. 14), “by the Susquehanna, Shawona, Potomack, and Conestogoe Indians.”
1718, Sept. 17	Deed of release by the Delaware Indians for “the lands between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers, from Duck Creek * * * to the Lehigh Hills.”
1720, Dec. 16	Deed settling controversy respecting boundary of the lands arising from dispute concerning distance a man and a horse can each travel in a day.
1726, May 31	Deed for lands on both sides of Brandywine Creek.
1732, Sept. 7	Deed for lands between “Lechay Hills and Kekachtanemin Hills,” between Schuylkill and its branches, and the branches of Delaware.
1736, Oct. 11	Deed “for all the said River Susquehanna with the land lying on both sides thereof,” eastward to the head of the branches, or springs running into the Susquehanna, and westward “to the setting of the sun,” and from its mouth northward “to the hills or mountains called Kekachtanemin”
1736, Oct. 25	The preceeding deed declared by the Indians to include the lands on the Delaware, “and all the lands on both sides of the River Susquehanna from the mouth thereof as far northward, * * * to the ridge of hills called Tyoninhaschta.”
1737, Aug. 25	Deed comprising the “Walking Purchase,” or “as far as a man can go in one day and an half” from the western branch of the Neshaminy to the Delaware.
1749, Aug. 22	Deed for lands from the “Kekactany Hill to Maghonioy Mountain,” and between Susquehanna and Delaware on the north side of Lechawachsein Creek.”
1754, July 6	Deed at Albany for the lands on the west side of the Susquehanna River from Kittochtinny Hills to a mile above the mouth of Penn’s Creek, “thence northwest and by west, as far as the Province extends to its western lines, * * * thence to the southern boundary, * * * thence by the southern boundary to the * * * Kittochtinny Hills, * * * thence by the south side of said Hills to the beginning.”