Lewis & Clark: A Surveyor's Perspective Acres in Chains
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The F lorida Surveyor is the official publication of the Florida Surveying and Mapping Society, also known as FSMS. It is published monthly for the purpose of communicating with the professional surveying community and related professions who are members of FSMS. Our award winning publication informs members eleven months out of the year about national, state, and district events and accomplishments, as well as articles relevant to the surveying profession. In addition, continuing educational courses are also available.
PRESIDENT’S Message
October 2025
Members,
As most of you know, finding skilled technicians and field staff has become extremely difficult to come by. The Society has recognized this as being one of the bigger challenges we face. To combat this issue, FSMS has created a Workforce Development Committee. This committee was set up to devise a way to increase our access to potential candidates in the field of surveying. With the assistance of the University of Florida, we now have such a program set up within the University’s extension offices for Geomatics Workforce Development.
The goal of this program is to attract individuals to the surveying profession through K-12 schools, Career Source, as well as other job placement recruitment and training. This program is in the approval phase, and we are ready to start laying the groundwork to roll it out in high schools, specifically through agricultural programs, an audience that FSMS chapters around the state have indicated cou ld be a good fit for open roles.
(772) 370-0558 president.fsms@gmail.com
The challenge now is to find and connect with teachers and administrators in the school system that would be interested in implementing this program into their curriculum. We are currently looking for those specific individuals. If you have contacts in schools who might be interested in participating in this program, and are interested in being a local industry contact for a school or are interested in being involv ed or updated moving forward please contact us.
PRESIDENT’S Message
Renewals
We are approaching renewal season for your membership (Memberships run from January 1st to December 31st of each year). Please look out for your renewal notification email for the coming year. Your renewals ar e the life blood of this society, and we can’t continue our mission without you. If you know of someone who would be interested in becoming a member, please make them aware of who we are and what we do.
As I mentioned in last month’s message, this is your society. Y our opinion matters, and I would like to hear from you regarding any comments or suggestions you may have. Please email me at president.fsms@gmail.com .
Respectfully submitted,
Robert N. “ Bob ” Johnson
2025-26 Districts and
Directors
District 1 - Northwest
Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton, Washington
Chad Thurner (850) 200-2441 chad.thurner@sam.biz
Angela Bailey (850) 559-5039 bailey.angelakay@gmail. com
District 2 - Northeast
Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Suwannee, St. Johns, Union
Pablo Ferrari (904) 219-4054 pferrari@drmp.com
Nick Digruttolo (352) 374-2249 ndigrutt@gmail. com
District 3 - East Central
Brevard, Flagler, Indian River, Lake, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Martin, St. Lucie, Volusia
Howard Ehmke (772) 206-4650 hehmke@carterassoc.com
From Dr. Youssef Kaddoura – Central Florida Chapter
**Update from the Central Florida Chapter FSMS Florida Chapter Meeting**
On Tuesday, August 19, I had the privilege of being sworn in as the Associate Director for the Central Florida Chapter FSMS Chapter. The meeting was a significant occasion as we recognized the dedication of our chapter’s officers.
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our outgoing President, Raymond F. Phillips, PSM , for his leadership and unwavering commitment, which has greatly contributed to the growth of our chapter. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
At the same time, I would like to warmly welcome our new President Edwin Munoz, PSM. I am excited to work alongside him as we continue to advance our initiatives and strengthen our community.
Having recently transitioned from the FSMS Broward Chapter, I am happy to continue contributing to the success of Florida Surveying and Mapping Society in this new capacity. I look forward to collaborating with my fellow officers to enhance the goals of our chapter.
From
Dr. Youssef Kaddoura – Central Florida Chapter
Tuesday, September 16, 2025, the Central Florida Chapter held a productive September meeting. A photo with the attendees pictured from right to left: Barb Nieto, Andrew Hunter [KEITH], Ralph A. Nieto [Nieto Land Surveying], Gary Krick [Southeastern Surveying and Mapping Corp.], Marco Krieger [Southeastern Surveying and Mapping Corp.], Tim Jaskiewicz [Southeastern Surveying and Mapping Corp.], Edwin Munoz, PSM [Southeastern Surveying and Mapping Corp.], John Gray [Southeastern Surveying and Mapping Corp.], Betty Morris, GISP [Tetra Tech], Kenneth Dell SIT [CLYMER FARNER BARLEYCFB, Inc. | CFB Surveying, LLC], Mary Voor [KEITH], Chris LaBerge, PSM [NV5], Dr. Youssef Omar Kaddoura [University of Florida School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences - UF IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center]. Note: a few members left early and aren’t in the photo. Thank you to everyone who attended for the engaging discussions and collaboration. If you missed it, don’t miss our next CFC meeting. Stay connected and join us for our upcoming sessions!
Florida Young Surveyors Network
The grind never stops! For our September meeting the FL YSN traveled down to West Palm Beach to the South Florida Water Management District Headquarters. Thank you so much to everyone involved in planning this event and for those who made it out last week, we could not have done it without you. We've still got some more up our sleeves, so stay tuned!
University of Florida Geomatics Student Association
What an incredible evening at our University of Florida Geomatics Student Association meeting! A heartfelt thank you to Bowman Consulting for their informative presentation and continued support of our students.
A special thank you to Brion Yancy, PSM for his talk, “It Takes Time to Get Oriented,” sharing his endeavors to find the Cape Sable triangulation baseline. Your persistence and curiosity breathed new life into the history of our discipline.
These presentations exemplify the blend of modern industry practice and historical foundation that makes geomatics such a dynamic field. Thank you for sharing your expertise and passion with us!
University of Florida Geomatics Student Association
Huge shoutout to LJA for hosting such an amazing tailgate! We all had so much fun! Go gators!!
FL Young Surveyors Network
Please check your emails for important information regarding officer nominations for the 2026 year term!
We are looking for highly motivated individuals who are passionate about helping the group grow.
Please review the following before submitting a nomination:
• Nominations will be open until November 01, 2025
• Only FL YSN members may enter nominations
• Nominees must be FL YSN members or plan to become members for the 2026 term
• If you’re not currently a FL YSN member but would like to join, please sign up on the Florida Surveying and Mapping Society website or contact FSMS directly.
UF Geomatics Extension Program to coordinate Florida Trig-Star Math Competition
By Stephanie Castellano
The University of Florida’s Geomatics Extension Program is excited to announce that the Trig-Star Competition , sponsored by the National Society of Professional Surveyors, is returning to Florida for the 2025-2026 school year. This competition tests students’ mathematics and trigonometry skills while introducing them to careers in the surveying and mapping industry; teaching practical, everyday applications of math. Surveyors work outdoors, indoors, on land, in the air, and at sea, using the latest technologies, including UAVs (drones), computer mapping equipment, and GPS.
The program offers cash prizes for statewide winning students and teachers. State winners are invited to participate in the National Trig-Star Competition. Students who compete and go on to pursue a degree in a surveying related field are eligible to apply for the annual Trig-Star Scholarship.
To participate, the Geomatics Extension Program will connect schools with local surveyors to provide a classroom presentation about the career, practical applications of trigonometry, and the competition. Our Extension Program will also coordinate with surveyors to proctor the exam for each school.
Trig-Star for Teachers : Teachers who are interested in having their students compete can reach out to geo-extension@ifas.ufl.edu for more information.
Trig-Star for Industry Professionals : If you are interested in promoting careers in the industry to a future generation of surveyors, there are plenty of ways to get involved. If you have connections with math teachers or administrators in your local school, please share information about the competition. If you would like to work directly with a school, you can present about Trig-Star and surveying applications in schools, and proctor the exam to a local school. Opportunities are also available for local FSMS chapters and firms to sponsor prizes for state winners. For more information about how you can help make the statewide competition successful, please reach out to geo-extension@ifas.ufl.edu .
NGS Multi-Year CORS Solution 3 Released
NGS has implemented the new International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2020 (ITRF2020) and IGS20 realizations in the U.S. Nation al Spatial Reference System (NSRS) in order to maintain consistency with the International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service (IERS) and the International GNSS Service (IGS) reference frames. This results in updated North American Datum 1983 (NAD 83) coordinates for stations in the NOAA CORS Network (NCN), kept at epoch 2010.0. This update is called the Multi-Year CORS Solution 3 (MYCS3) and it follows NGS’s MYCS2 effort from 2018.
What's new?
This update to the NSRS has been implemented.
• New coordinate functions for NOAA CORS Network (NCN) stations consistent with ITRF2020
• Datasheets will display new NAD 83 coordinates transformed from ITRF2020 coordinate functions.
• The new NAD 83 coordinates will remain at reference epoch 2010.0
• Position and Velocity (P&V) files will display coordinates/veloc ities in both NAD 83 and ITRF2020
• The NGS Online Positioning Users Service (OPUS) will begin processing data with NCN control that is consistent with ITRF2020 at the time of measurement; results will still be transformed to NAD83 at epoch 2010.0.
Background:
On October 2, 2022, the International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service (IERS) released a new realization of the Interna tional Terrestrial Reference Frame called ITRF2020 . The new frame supersedes the previous version called ITRF2014. The ITRF2020 release was followed shortly by the release of a new frame realization by the Intern ational GNSS Service (IGS) called IGS20 which is closely related to ITRF2020. Learn more in the Multi-Year CORS Solution v3 (MYCS3) webinar .
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Multiple NSRS Modernization Products
Published to Beta
NGS has released the following four groups of products to the NGS beta website to solicit review and feedback from stakeholders as part of the modernization of the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS): (Note: These products are not final and should not be used for anything other than review and testing.)
North American-Pacific Geopotential Datum of 2022 (NAPGD2022) .
This datum will replace the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) and all other vertical datums for islands in the United States. It will serve as a foundational component of the modernized National Sp atial Reference System (NSRS), providing precise definitions for ortho metric height (elevation). The release includes the defining grids that collectively make up the datum along with a number of supporting products to visualize the datum.
• Products . All NAPGD2022 products are provided as grids for the following: GEOID2022, DEFLEC2022, GRAV2022.
• Example coordinates. Coordinates and product values are computed for numerous example points throughout NAPGD2022 and provided in a table.
• NAPGD2022 Experience . Interactive online maps showing NAPGD2022 products for all regions that can be used on a computer or mobile device to query any location.
• Maps of NAPGD2022 products . Static map images of NAPGD2022 products for all regions.
New Terrestrial Reference Frames of 2022 for North America (NATRF2022), Pacific (PATRF2022), Caribbean (CATRF2022), and Mariana (MATRF2022) plates . These four geodetic reference frames will replace the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83). They will serve as a foundational component of the modernized NSRS, providing prec ise definitions for geodetic latitude, longitude, and ellipsoidal he ight.
• Euler Pole Parameters of 2022 . All of the new terrestrial reference
frames are defined by transformation from the International Terr estrial Reference Frame of 2020 (ITRF2020) using Euler Pole Parameters (EPPs) that model tectonic plate rotation.
State Plane Coordinate System of 2022 (SPCS2022) . A system of map projections for accessing the modernized NSRS. Zone designs hav e been incorporated into the following beta products and services:
• Zone information tables . SPCS2022 zone definitions, example coordinate computation results, minimum and maximum coordinate values, and minimum coordinate differences with overlapping SPCS2022 zones and with other coordinate systems, provided as interactive tables that can be sorted and filtered.
• SPCS2022 Experience . Interactive online maps showing distortion for all SPCS2022 zones that can be used on a computer or mobile dev ice to get distortion at any location or to view zone definitions.
• Maps of SPCS2022 zones and distortion . Static map images of SPCS2022 zone layers, number of zones, and distortion with performance statistics.
NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool (NCAT) . This version can be used to perform SPCS2022 coordinate conversions at any location for all SPCS2022 zones. Later beta versions will inclu de the ability to transform between reference frames and vertical datums.
Products found on the NGS beta website are preliminary releases that are for testing and evaluation only; they are not final products nor do they contain any authoritative NGS data or tools. To provide feedback on any of the content on this site, please email ngs.feedback@noaa.gov .
Seminars at Sea 2026 Seminars at Sea 2026
The Cruise
• Princess Cruise Line - Majestic Princess
• 7 Nights
• Leaving out of New York Harbor 10/3/26
• Newport, Rhode Island
• Boston, Massachusetts
• A morning of “Learning” at Sea
• Saint John (for the Bay of Fundy), Canada
• Halifax (Nova Scotia), Canada
• A morning of “Learning” at Sea
• Return to New York Harbor 10/10/26
The Learning
• Two - 6 hour live morning classes while onboard during two days at sea from 7 am to Noon.
• History of Swamp and Overflowed Lands and Island Surveys in Florida (6 CECs) Course# 11097
• The Great Halifax Explosion of 1917: The Roles of the Surveyors & Planners (6 CECs) Course# 11096
• 12 hours CE Credit via your choice of Correspondence Courses.
• Registering for the Learning will be at an additional cost of $500 per seminar attendee above the cost of the Cruise. Click Here to Register for The Learning Provider No. CE11.
The Instructor
Dr. Joe Knetsch will be our live onboard instructor for the 2026 Seminars at Sea. Dr. Knetsch received his Ph. D. in history from Florida State University (1990), an MA in history from Florida Atlantic University (1974) and a B.S. from Western Michigan University with a major in History and Economics. He was the historian for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (formerly Department of Natural Resources), Division of State Lands from 1987 to August of 2014.
The Details
• Book early to secure your cabin - FSMS currently has Deluxe Mini-Suites and Deluxe Balconies on hold until May 2026 at the below rates. Click Here to Check out the Cabins and their Availability
• Category MB - Mini-Suite $2066 per person based on double occupancy.
• Category DB - Balcony $1846 per person based on double occupancy.
• Please note at the time of booking with Princess any promotions which could include reduced fares or deposits will be applied to your booking. If there is another category of cabin you would like to book, our Travel Advisor Gail Oliver will work with you on finding the best cabin for the best rate to suit your needs. It is important to book with Gail to be considered a part of the FSMS group to receive the group benefits. Contact Gail Oliver at Tesoro Travel via email at gail@tesorotravel.com or phone at 904-687-5655.
The Sponsorship
$3000
• Verbal Recognition during Event
• T-shirts with your company logo
• “Thank You” on FSMS website and social media posts
• Listed in all Seminars at Sea Communication
• Featured Full-page ad in The Florida Surveyor Magazine
Rollout Plan for Remaining NSRS
Modernization products, including OPUS Products Changes
On June 17, 2025, NGS released the first preliminary products of the modernized National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) for beta testing and feedback. In the coming months, additional products listed below will be made available. As each product is released, it will undergo at least six months of testing preceding the final adoption and implementatio n of the modernized NSRS.
The descriptions below supersede previous updates or information shared in NSRS Modernization blueprint documents, plans, or presentations. These products and their status will be described on the Track Our Progress webpage .
1. The Data Delivery System (DDS) landing page will provide an updated version of the “NGS Map” and “Looking for Benchmarks” pages. This new landing page will allow you to access modernized informatio nal pages about geodetic stations and geodetic marks.
2. Geodetic station pages will offer an updated version of the current NOAA CORS Network (NCN) station pages. Geodetic mark pages will be updated datasheets, replacing the current ASCII text file ver sion of datasheets. The updated coordinates (reference epoch coordinates) for marks and updated CORS coordinate functions (CCFs) for CORSs in the modernized NSRS will be available through these pages.
3. The NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool (NCAT) will be updated through multiple versions, currently with state plane coordinates, then later adding support for various geopotential calculations including ellipsoid/orthometric height conversion as well as NADCON (geometric) and VERTCON (orthometric) transformations from the current NSRS to the modernized NSRS.
4. OPUS-Static will function similarly to today’s tool, but it will operate with the modernized NSRS, including the support of multi-GNSS d ata. Additionally, the popular function of “sharing” your solution with others (colloquially called “OPUS-Share”) will be retained, but with appropriate caveats that the shared solution should not be used as geodetic control. These shared solutions will be available through the geodetic mark pages of the DDS.
The following products will not be included in the release of the modernized NSRS. However, plans to replace the services or miti gate gaps are described below.
• OPUS-Projects 5 will not be included in the modernized NSRS. Instead, NGS will focus on both developing an improved software suite for OPUS, known as OPUS 6, and minimizing any gap in service in whi ch the current OPUS-Projects functionality is not available for us ers to organize, process, adjust, and submit high-accuracy GPS surveys for use by NGS in expanding and improving the NSRS. As noted above, OPUS-Share will remain available as a means to submit data to NGS.
• OPUS-Rapid Static (OPUS-RS) will not be included in the modernized NSRS. Instead, the modernized version of OPUS-Static, noted above, will be capable of processing multi-GNSS static data files that are s horter in duration (i.e., less than 2 hours).
Note: the current OPUS Projects 5 software will be supported until the modernized system is adopted, and a deadline for OPUS-Projects users to submit their surveys for publication will be announced with at least six months notice.
To stay informed about these releases, please subscribe to NGS News . If you have questions, please email NGS.Feedback@noaa.gov .
There was also a recent NGS webinar given by Dru Smith, NGS NSRS Modernization Manager, on the next steps in working toward the Modernized NSTS.
The webinar recording can be accessed here: https://geodesy.noaa.gov/web/science_edu/webinar_series/2025webinars.shtml
H.O. Peters Surveyor of the Year Award
Rick Pryce
Jim Bennett Board Member of the Year Award
Earl Soeder
Life Member Recipient
Russell Hyatt
Fellow Member Recipients
Dodie Keith-Lazowick & Nick DiGruttolo
Committee Chair of the Year Award
Allen Nobles
Young Surveyor of the Year Award
Joe Samberg
Professional Excellence Award
Earl Soeder
Perry C. McGriff Outstanding Civic Contribution Award
Scott Woolam
Steven Woods Exceptional Service Award
John Liptak
Chapter President of the Year Award
Brion D. Yancy
Small Chapter of the Year Award
Indian River
Large Chapter of the Year Award
Manasota
Adventures in the Amazon (Part 1)
Juan Plaza shares the untold story of the Airborne Profile Recorder (APR), the precursor to lidar.
It was the end of the rainy season in the Amazon Jungle, and we had only two months left to comply with the customer’s request to determine the height of the tree canopy in his mining concession in the dense, tropical forest. The only map available in the area had contour lines exclusively of the vegetation and there was no information about the ground elevation or features.
We were testing a new technology: a vertically mounted single-beam laser that would hit the trees in a straight line and occasionally would reach the ground, giving us enough data points to extrapolate the contour lines of the rough surface. The bulky equipment was an Airborne Profile Recorder (APR) called Geodolite 3A and manufactured by Spectra Physics and equipped with an analog printer attached to it that registered the laser hits on the surface below and a barometric altimeter to record the flying altitude.
Because in those days satellite navigation was in its early stages and mainly for military purposes, positioning the laser lines precisely on the terrain was a challenge and we resorted to traditional photogrammetry by mounting a 35 mm camera right beside the laser beam to photographically record the terrain and use these features to identify the location of each line. Read the rest of the story here.
NOAA’s Vertical Datum Transformation (VDatum) Tool
Integrating America’s Elevation Data
The Vertical Datum Transformation (VDatum) tool developed by NOAA is designed to vertically transform geospatial data among a variety of datums. This transformation allows users to convert their data from different vertical references into a common system, thereby enabling the fusion of diverse geospatial data, particularly in coastal regions. Merging data sets with inconsistent vertical datums can cause discontinuities that become problematic when producing maps, assimilating data and advanced model results, or performing simulations at the accuracy needed for informed, intelligent coastal zone management decision-making.
VDatum currently supports vertical datum transformations for placement into three categories:
n Ellipsoidal: realized through space-borne systems, such as GPS.
n Orthometric: defined relative to a geopotential surface, and realized concurrently through geodetic bench marks.
n Tidal: a standard elevation defined from water level observations during a specific phase of the tide.
VDatum Enables:
n Fusing diverse geospatial datasets into one common vertical datum.
n Extracting consistent, non-interpreted tidal datum-based shoreline from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR).
The VDatum software tool is currently available for select areas of the United States and is designed to support many diverse applications. The VDatum tool allows transformation of a single depth/height, file/files of points, and specific GIS formats from one vertical datum to another. Uncertainties associated with VDatum are available to inform users and assist in transforming heights among the various supported vertical datums.
n Vertically referencing hydrographic surveys collected relative to the ellipsoid, eliminating time-consuming water level corrections.
For more information, contact NOAA:
n On the Web http://vdatum.noaa.gov
n By Email vdatum.info@noaa.gov
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Bathymetry
Vertical Datum Transformation
of Discovery”
Le wis & Cl ark Expedition (11804-1806)
A Surveyor’s Perspective (Part 1)
My purpose in authoring this article is to bring out the Surveying aspects, as well as some background and history. Part 1 covers the background leading up the expedition, Part 2 covers the Surveying and mapping aspects of the journey and things I found interesting and not included in the history book version….. Rick Pryce
Over the brief 249 years (1776-2025) history of the United States, an unfortunate number of great adventures and amazing stories have been looked over, forgotten, and lost among dusty bookshelves of reference material. When we occasionally stumble upon one of them, with faintly familiar names, we ought to take them down, dust them off, and thumb through their passages, embrace the tactile feel of each page, and refresh our memories with their stories. When we do, we may be surprised to find hidden gems inside: important reminders, of what the former adventurers – in this case Military men, trained as temporary surveyors and their crew – contracted to map and document the vast western territory by following the Missouri River to its starting place and beyond to the Pacific Ocean, and what eventually would be part of the United States of America.
ne such story was gifted to me by a fellow Surveyor for my retirement and I will be forever grateful for the thought of this precious set of personal journals on a story I have long heard about but never really knew. These two volumes, leather-bound, with golden letters inlaid on the outside cover came into my view and stood out amongst the others on my shelf. They supplied me with a way to escape into the past for a while. To read for myself about the historical adventure that started 221 years ago and took almost three years to accomplish. The two books are meticulously put together by the Easton Press in 1962 as a Collector’s Edition to celebrate the individual achievements of these two military men, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who successfully took on this expedition, which they described their team as “Corps of Discovery”. Their personal day-to - day observations, taken from their original journals show the hardships endured and accomplishments they made. This journey had a profound and important impact on the expansion of the American dream from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The following are some of my own interpretations, excerpts from these two journals, letters from Thomas Jefferson about his past attempts and my reading of multiple articles of the Louisiana Purchase, and related materials from the websites: Library of Congress Map Division, Monticello.org, the Lewis and Clark Journals, and LewisClark.org, The State Historical Society of Missouri, and the Montana Bureau of Mining & Geology.
by Richard D. Pryce RLS/PSM
What was known of the Western areas came from maps like this one from England of the Traders from Hudson Bay. As stated by Jefferson in his address to Congress, extraordinarily little of western geography was known before the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Even without discerning individual rivers, hachures, and labels presented on Arrowsmith’s original 49.2 x 51.5 in. (125 x 146 cm) map, one can easily compare the amount of detail betwee n the east and western portions of what would become the United States of America.
Map Division, U.S. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2001620920/
The map below is a portion of an overall sketch by Meriwether Lewis of what little was known of the Missouri River and its route further west. This portion shows the known rivers location in the lower right, then it’s approximate location by dashed lines and the Indian villages that they would first encounter in the expedition. All of this from information was gathered from the French fur traders and some other previous explorers in the area.
(See zoomed in area below or download)
Map Division, U.S. Library of Congress, http://hdl. loc.gov/loc.gmd/g4126s.ct000071
The map below was created in 1798 by James Mackay and John Evans and taken with Lewis on the journey and shows details of the river including all of the tributaries and other rivers intersecting Missouri and the obstacles within the river. It was not to scale and only used for reference to what they might see.
(See zoomed in area below or download full map)
Map Division, U.S. Library of Congress, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g4127m.ct000583
The Lewis and Clark Expedition:
"The most consequential and romantic peace-time achievement in American history," had its genesis in the mind of Thomas Jefferson fully two decades before the exploring party departed from Pittsburgh on 31 August 1803. The need to determine the character and expanse of the western regions of the continent lingered in his mind, and during the intervening years he encouraged three unsuccessful attempts to explore them. After he assumed the presidency in 1801, he was finally able to bring his dream to realization. The venture not only achieved all that Jefferson had hoped, but also was the first and one of the most important applications of scientific practices and instrumentation attempted by the young republic. The third president was eminently suited to plan such a project, for Jefferson was better informed on national geography than anyone else in the United States. He had spent many years collecting and studying all that had been written and published about the subject, and he had many opportunities to meet Indians and others who had traveled in the West and to record all that he could learn from them. He was knowledgeable about scientific practices and instruments and was experienced in surveying, mapping, and making astronomical observations, all of which would be required to record the regions to be explored. As president of the American Philosophical Society, Jefferson could call upon the nation's most eminent men of science for advice on all the subjects that would concern the proposed expedition.
Finding and exploring a practical land route across America for commercial trade had haunted Thomas Jefferson for more than 20+ years before he became President in 1801. Even though he never traveled more than 50 miles west of his beloved home in Monticello in Albemarle County, Virginia, he had tried and failed five times to accomplish this dream of his with some very elaborate schemes, but every attempt met with circumstances beyond his control, and it looked hopeless to continue. The dream however remained; he just could not find the right individuals to take it on and make it happen. His scientific curiosity about all things, marked his entire life, and the stories he had heard of the Indian tribes, the animals and plants, different fossils (Mammoth and Mastodon) already found, a great Salt Lake, and idea of what this vast area being of great economic importance to the States in the future spurred on his dreams of discovery.
Once in office, Jefferson now had the power to make it happen, and he knew exactly who he wanted to lead this endeavor, one Meriweather Lewis, the son of a longtime friend and neighbor who had previously volunteered, nine years prior, for the expedition but was deemed too young to take it on at the time. The President decided to search him out through the war department and found that he had reached the rank of Captain and was a now a paymaster. Even though Lewis was not really qualified to be Jefferson’s personal secretary, the President thought it necessary to hire him for this position to make it more official. Lewis got a letter from the President requesting him for his secretary, and reading between the lines, knew right away what the real job was. He finished his duties as a paymaster then went to Washington as quickly as he could. He soon took up residence in the Whitehouse with the President who was recently widowed, and they spent the next two years planning the expedition. Jefferson realized the importance of this mission and understood the danger it presented so as the time drew near, he told Lewis to find another officer he trusted to accompany him and if necessary, could take over if something unforeseen happened to Lewis. Captain Lewis already had two men in mind, former company commander William Clark, and Captain Moses Hook. Clark accepted right away and Captain Hook, even though disappointed, decided to assist all he could in the preparation for the expedition, by finding men, equipment, and supplies.
It was important for Captain Lewis to gain certain scientific skills and to buy equipment that would be needed on the journey. In the spring of 1803, Lewis traveled to Philadelphia to study with the leading scientists of the day. Andrew Ellicott taught Captain Lewis map making and surveying. Benjamin Smith Barton tutored Lewis in botany, Robert Patterson in mathematics, Caspar Wistar in anatomy and fossils, and Benjamin Rush in medicine. During this time, he also twice visited the arsenal at Harpers Ferry to obtain rifles and other supplies that he had shipped to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was to recruit men and make last-minute purchases before setting off on the Ohio River to meet Clark.
Jefferson’s long-term vision and goal was to explore the future expansion of the US all the way to the Pacific Ocean, but he knew it would take time and considerable amount of effort and funds to achieve this and many in Congress did not share his thoughts, especially the Federalists who looked for every opportunity to undermine the Republican measures. When Napoleon Bonaparte gained back Louisiana from Spain in October of 1800 in a secret Treaty and with promises to provide Spain with the territory of Tuscany. Spain was now under an agreement to Bonaparte to assist in his war with Britain. Jefferson feared that Napoleon now had sites on Louisiana and wondered whether Napolean would honor the agreements they had with Spain regarding boats and trade along the Mississippi River. The President secretly started a buildup of troops near New Orleans with the idea of taking over the city if necessary to keep it open to America. Jefferson also had heard rumors of Britain using this opportunity of the transition from Spain to France to come in from Canada and claim some of Louisiana area for themselves, so he also had troops being readied there as well. Jefferson sent James Madison to assist Robert Livingston in France to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans and parts of Florida, However, when he got to France, Napoleon had a separate offer prepared. In early 1803 Bonaparte fearing an attack on Louisiana by Britain and not having enough troops to cover the vast area 828,000 square miles, offered it to the United States for $15,000,000, or roughly 3 cents per acre. Madison and Livingston finalized the deal even though it was beyond their authority.
Jefferson and his party were eager to accept the offer; except they were strict constructionist to the Constitution which gave the government no power to buy and hold territory. This offer and their want to expand the United States forced the strict constructionist party to broaden their views and they acquired the Louisiana Territory with some vague proposal language that they would change the Constitution in the future.
Jefferson rationalized his decision with the statement: "it is the case of a guardian investing the money of his ward in purchasing an important adjacent territory; and saying to him when of age, I did this for your good."
Negotiations had taken place in Paris between France and the US, and the territory was transferred by treaties executed on April 30th, 1803, but news and final decrees did not reach the United States until July 1st and announced on July 4, 1803. This brought excitement, and increased infinite interest in the expedition, and lessoned all the former apprehensions of interruptions from outside powers.
Ratification of Louisiana Treaty
The Senate ratified the treaty on October 20, 1803, by a vote of 24 to 7. Spain, upset by the sale but without the military power to block it, formally returned Louisiana to France on November 30. France officially transferred the territory to the Americans on December 20, and the United States took formal possession on December 30, 1803
Upon the official transfer of Louisiana to the United States the “Corp of Discovery” expedition became top priority and the preparations got into full swing. Captain Clark was recruiting men for the journey as Captain Lewis was preparing lists of and ordering supplies.
Instructions
The original instructions from the President came before the purchase of Louisiana and the Treaty and there was a concern for safe passage through the territory. Jefferson needed to get approval from the Legislators without France and Spain getting wind of the true purpose of the journey, so a confidential message was sent to them to authorize funding of $2,500 for the expedition which was approved. The eventual cost of the journey came to be much more!
Portions
of Jeffersons original Instructions are as follows:
"To Meriwether Lewis, esquire, Captain of the 1st regiment of infantry of the United States of America.
" Your situation as Secretary of the President of the United States has made you acquainted with the objects of my confidential message of Jan. 18, 1803, to the legislature. You have seen the act they passed, which, though expressed in general terms, was meant to sanction those objects, and you are appointed to carry them into execution.
"Instruments for ascertaining by celestial observations the geography of the country through which you will pass, have already been provided. Light articles for barter, & presents among the Indians, arms for your attendants, say for from 10 to 12 men, boats, tents, & other travelling apparatus, with ammunition, medicine, surgical instruments & provision you will have prepared with such aids as the Secretary at War can yield in his department; & from him also you will receive authority to engage among our troops, by voluntary agreement, the number of attendants above mentioned, over whom you, as their commanding officer are invested with all the powers the laws give in such a case.
"As your movements while within the limits of the U.S. will be better directed by occasional communications, adapted to circumstances as they arise, they will not be noticed here. What follows will respect your proceedings after your departure from the U.S.
Your mission has been communicated to the Ministers here from France, Spain, & Great Britain, and through them to their governments: and such assurances given them as to its objects as we trust will satisfy them. The country of Louisiana having been ceded by Spain to France, the passport you have from the Minister of France, the representative of the present sovereign of the country, will be a protection with all its subjects: and that from the Minister of England will entitle you to the friendly aid of any traders of that allegiance with whom you may happen to meet.
"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by its course & communication with the water of the Pacific Ocean may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.
"Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri River, you will take observations of latitude and longitude at all remarkable points on the river, & especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands & other places & objects distinguished by such natural marks & characters of a durable kind, as that they may with certainty be recognized hereafter. The courses of the river between these points of observation may be supplied by the compass, the logline & by time, corrected by the observations themselves. The variations of the compass too, in different places should be noticed.
"Your observations are to be taken with great pains & accuracy to be entered distinctly, & intelligibly for others as well as yourself, to comprehend all the elements necessary, with the aid of the usual tables to fix the latitude & longitude of the places at which they were taken, & are to be rendered to the war office, for the purpose of having the calculations made concurrently by proper persons within the USA . Several copies of these as well as of your other notes should be made at leisure times and put into the care of the most trustworthy of your attendants, to guard by multiplying them against the accidental losses to which they will be exposed. A further guard would be that one of these copies be written on the paper of the birch, as less liable to injury from damp than common paper.
Journey Preparation
However, all the while the negotiations were still taking place and uncertainty was still in the air, anticipation of the journey and preparations were continuing in the background. Lewis was in Philadelphia learning new skills he would need for this adventure from the experts previously mentioned.
While in Philadelphia Lewis began purchasing many of the items required for the journey. His shopping list included scientific instruments such as a chronometer, octant, and a sextant, an air rifle, arms and ammunition, medicines, ink and other materials for journal keeping, and a large array of other items, including 193 pounds of portable soup, a corn mill, mosquito netting, blankets, oiled linen for making tents, candles, tools, and reference books.
Lewis also purchased gifts for Native Americans. It was well known that in Indian cultures gift exchange was an important sign of friendship and allegiance. To prepare for this, he bought glass beads, mirrors, scissors, thimbles, needles, tobacco, knives, and peace medals. Through the exchange of gifts and following Jefferson's instructions to treat the Indians "in the most friendly and conciliatory manner," it was hoped that knowledge of them could be acquired and trade increased. Getting to know and understand the different names, history, and customs of the multitude of tribes along the anticipated route would be a critical function of this journey. This would help to facilitate future trade for those individuals making the journey for they would be better educated and equipped to communicate and deal with the customs and needs of the Native American Tribes. Observations of their rituals, knowledge of the plants and animals in their territories, their movements, and their family units would provide a wealth of information to understand and work with them.
His abilities to communicate with and learn about the Native Americans culture, would be paramount to his success Being a newcomer and white man coming into their territory it was important to gain their trust so that their journey through might be unhindered by the different tribes along the way. Thinking in advance he would also need to acquire horses from them for crossing the Rocky Mountains.
While Lewis was collecting the supplies and getting other education for the journey, Clark was handling the design, building of the boats for the trip, and collecting able-bodied men from the military that were volunteers and suitable for the expedition. He needed men who could do multiple tasks, handle large and small boats, good hunters, blacksmiths, and men who could be relied upon should there be trouble along the way. Men who honest, hardworking and could take orders from both leaders.
The design of the barge keel boat was a daunting task, but Clark was excellent at it. The keel boat was fifty-five feet long, eight feet wide, and was equipped with a sail and twenty-two oars, a small cannon on the bow, and a largebore shotgun called a blunderbuss, on the stern, and it could handle up to 30 tons of cargo.
Below is a profile and plan view, of the original sketches by Capt. Clark of the main Barge Keel Boat to be built.
Keel Boat Rendition from: Oldham County Lewis & Clark Trail - Oldham County KY Tourism
Supplies
Lewis had prepared a supply list for this massive undertaking and when you consider that this is for over forty people over two years it is amazing they were able to survive and make it successful. The lists on this page and the next are just a portion of the overall but will give you an understanding of what they were up against, and the planning that went into this.
The trip took a total of 864 days to complete, and they only lost one individual during that time. An amazing accomplishment.
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The Expedition party included forty-five (45) people, Lewis, Clark, twenty-seven (27) unmarried soldiers, a French Indian interpreter, a contracted boat crew and an enslaved person named York owned by Clark. They embarked on the official journey on May 14th , 1804, at the juncture of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. They had the Barge Keel Boat and two large rowboats with sails, which they usually called pirogues that assisted in carrying supplies and men. By the time they started the journey the Louisiana Purchase was already completed so they were heading into territory already owned by the United States, however, not everyone in the territory was aware of it yet so caution was still a priority when it came to the French and Spanish people in the area.
“Louisiana Purchase” Robert Wilkison’s Magnificent Map of North America 1804 shows the “Louisiana Purchase” extending from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains. This was the area purchased by the United States for $15,000,000 dollars and ratified on April 30th , 1803, from France.
This covered 828,000 square miles or 530,000,000 acres almost doubling the current area of the United States.
David Rumsey Map Collection, North America. / Wilkinson, Robert / 1804
The Lewis & Clark Expedition - to be continued in Part 2
Ballad
of
the
Land Surveyor Chris Springfield , March 8, 2006
When I am asked by others "What do you do for a living?" "How do you earn your pay?"
I smile and say "I'm a Land Surveyor, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
For you see while others work in offices trying to beat the bottom line, I stand out with Mother Nature with the breezes and warm sunshine. And when I go home in the evening, my little son crawls up on my knee "What was work like today Daddy?"
Tell me, "What did you see?"
I say "I saw the dew dry with the morning dawn, and a mother doe standing quietly with her yearling fawn, I saw a Red -Tailed Hawk fly high against the clear blue sky, ever watching for a field mouse with his hungry eye." Then my little son's eyes light up, they shine a bright, clear blue. He hugs my neck and whispers "I want to be just like you."
I hug him back and don't try to hide my Father's pride, I say "I would be proud little man for you to work by my side."
But when you take the Surveyor's road, the one traveled by Lewis and Clark, you set out on a path of adventure and hard work; it's not all a walk in the park. Yes, you feel the warm breezes of spring, and the chill of the early fall, the cold, raw mornings of winter when the temperature d oesn't rise at all, and the hot humid days of summer, when it's 100 degrees in the shade, when you'll think, if only I wasn't a Surveyor, I think I would have it made. You'll wade through the ditches and water, fall on your face in the mud, fight the briars and things that sting, searching for your Hub.
Sometimes you'll deal with nature, her storms and other acts of God, while all the time you keep searching for your corner, that 5/8" iron rod. But then one day you'll crest a rise and see a panoramic view of cloudless skies where eagles fly and a mountain lake of crystal blue. Yet when you pause and wonder about this gift that God has given you, remember you're a Surveyor, and there's nothing you would rather do. We gather every workday with all our tools of the trade, our tapes, our rods, our flagging, and our freshly sharpened blade. We have done this through the ages, mapped the World, distance and line. We were there to build the Pyramids, in the Pharaoh's time. We map it all on any scale, no matter how s mall or grand, from Columbus' New World to the smallest parcel of land, and when someday we go to the stars to expand the human race, a Surveyor will be there waiting, ready to mark the place. And when at last my job is done, and I'm laid to my eternal rest, I hope they place a marker with my "final point," there on my chest. I hope that I'm not forgotten, that I'm thought of from time to time, I'll always be there with you brothers, somewhere "cutting line." Chris Springfield : is
Forts, Ports, Canals, Wars
(State Library and Archives of Florida) and
Dr. Joe Knetsch
An Uncommon History of Tallahassee & Surrounding Areas by
Portrait of Achille Murat
CHAPTER 4
Achille Murat Discusses the Opening of the Public Lands in Florida
Achille Murat, nephew of Napoleon, son of the emperor’s sister Caroline and her husband Joachim Murat, marshal of France and the ruler of the newly created Kingdom of Naples, was a prolific writer. His many books included The United States of North America , which is a very colorful and descriptive volume on the American countryside. In Florida, he was a legendary eccentric noted for riding into Tallahassee or Monticello on muleback with drooping hat and homespun clothing. The Murat plantation home was not the classical revival type, but a rather plain looking but spacious clapboard house of two stories and little, if any paint. His wife Catherine was the grandniece of George Washington and connected well with the old Virginia aristocracy. After the prince’s death in 1847, she moved to the Tallahassee area and lived at her plantation of Bellevue, which can be seen today at the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Sciences. Like its owner, it is both plain and elegant at the same time. The Murats’ settling in the Leon/Jefferson County area gave them a front-row seat to some of the important happenings in Territorial Florida, including the opening of the public lands.
Achille Murat was also an investor in Florida lands, owning land in St. Johns, Jefferson and Leon counties. His property in St. Johns County bordered on the Matanzas River and Moses Creek and totaled 1,200 acres. He purchased this grant from Fernando de la Maza Arredondo through Moses Levy in 1824. After the founding of Tallahassee and the establishment of the territorial capital there he began purchasing land in the vicinity. His two plantations in the area were called Lipona and Econchatti, and according to historians William W. Rogers and Mary Louise Ellis, they were the center of much social activity in the Territorial period. Murat was also involved as an investor in the Union Bank of Florida which was supported by the planters class. He also invested and was an incorporator of a canal company to connect the Wacissa and Aucilla rivers for commercial use. As a planter and investor he enjoyed modest success in the new territory, but his wit and
Forts, Ports, Canals, and Wars
social skills (or lack thereof) made him a true frontier character.
What follows is a description of the opening of the public lands in Florida in Murat’s own words taken from the above named work. I came upon this excerpt while going through some of the writings and collections of Dorothy Dodd, the historian who was the main driving force in the creation of the State Library of Florida. A great collector of Floridiana and a prolific author in her own right, Dr. Dodd continued collecting Florida history almost until the day she died. She assembled a two-volume set of articles, papers and documents that she was intending to publish as a docu mentary history of Florida. Among this collection was the portion she called, “Murat, Opening the Public Lands.” It is one of the more fascinating docu ments in the entire collection and gives a contemporary account of “how it was” on the Florida frontier. The process he describes was to be duplicated throughout the remaining and public lands Territories and States:
“The Indians select chiefs who assemble upon some central spot, where they find prepared to meet them commissioners from the United States. There they have a talk , or conference. The arti cles of the treaty are in general the following:
1st. The Indians renounce the greater and more fertile part of their lands, and the government, under the name of reserve, guarantees to them such part of it as it thinks proper.
2nd. The United States pay to them an annuity, part in cattle, tools, agricultural implements, and provisions, and part in money.
3rd. The United States establish near the nation an agent, without whose permission no white can trade, or even pass the frontier.
4th. The Indians also are not to pass their limits without a passport from the agent.
5th. It is to him that both the Indians and whites must carry any complaints they may have to make against each other, and he is to see justice done between them.
6th. The United States establish an agency house, a black smith, a carpenter, and a schoolmaster, for the use of the nation.
7th. If the crops have been destroyed, the United States allow rations until the next season.
But let us leave the Indians and turn to the white population now extended around them. The first species of settlers or cultivators is what we call squatters. These are very poor citizens, generally not very industrious, who, not possessing the means of buying lands, live upon those of others and work them until they are expelled by the proprietors. Their poverty is entirely the fruit of their idle and drunken habits, for those among them who are industrious never fail to make a fortune. For the most part, they have a wife and children, some Negroes and, sometimes, very numerous flocks. They rarely raise two crops from the same land; on the contrary, they quit a district as soon as it becomes peopled. Under their hands the country soon assumes a new aspect. Every seven or eight miles rise up huts formed from the trunks of trees. Iron is too dear for them to permit themselves the use of it; wood, therefore, supplies its place even for hinges and locks. One of these huts may easily be constructed in two or three days.
More than once when on horseback in the woods in search of my horses or strayed oxen I have met in the very midst of the forest a cart loaded with household furniture and children, and one or two men escorting about thirty cows and hogs. After the questions, Where do you come from? Where are you going? which are always cordially answered, the head of the family has asked me some details relative to the country, and requested me to direct him to the creek or the nearest spring. A week after I have been astonished to see a good hut there, a field of cattle. and some poultry; the wife spinning cotton, the husband destroying trees by making a circular incision in them called a girdlein short, settling their household goods without making any inquiry as to whom the land belonged. Frequently, also, I have seen them after a few days’ sojourn, abandon their dwelling for the slightest cause, and transport themselves – God knows where.
Around the huts, the eye opens upon irregular fields. The trees are still standing, but dead; props of cleft wood surround them. Numerous pathways, well beaten and indicated upon the barks of the trees, lead from one hut to another, and some cartroads wind across the forest in the shade of the old trees.
Forts, Ports, Canals, and Wars
All the vacant lands belong to the United States. The question is how to sell them. In Florida, concessions of land made by the old government [Spanish], and the rights acquired by the old inhabitants from real or pretended purchases from the Indians, produce a perplexity as to titles which is sometimes impossible to adjust. For this purpose, recourse is had to an administrative commission who, without deciding upon the conflicting claims of individuals, confines itself to separating the alienated lands from those remaining in the power of the United States. It is only of those of this latter species that I now propose to speak.
A central spot is selected, destined for the building of a city, probably the future capital of the State. From this point, with the assistance of a compass, surveyors begin by sketching the base and meridian, going north and south, east and west, in a direct line across woods, marshes, rivers, etc. The line is marked upon the trees on each side of the chain in such a way as to make it easy to follow. Every six miles the surveyors fix a post; from these posts other lines are drawn parallel to the base and meridian, which divide the country into squares of six miles. Each of these squares is called a township and is numbered according to its position.
Each township is afterwards divided into squares of one mile by lines traced upon the trees in the same manner but with different marks. These second divisions, called sections contain six hundred and forty acres each. The sections and eights are numbered in each township and these numbers are indicated upon the posts found at the corners, so that on meeting with a line in the midst of the woods and following it to the corner one knows where one is. (For instance, the house from which I write is situated in the eastern half of the S.E. quarter of section 8, township 1, range 3 S.E. from Tallahassee.) One provision is very important; the section No. 16 of each township is appropriated to defray public education and cannot be sold.
The President, when he thinks proper, issues a proclamation announcing that at such and such a time and place certain public lands will be sold. Immediately on the issuing of the proclama tion, the country begins filling with strangers; some seeking for lands to settle as soon as possible; others for a son or son-in-law; others merely
speculators who buy only to sell again. These all spread themselves over the country with their compasses in hand, examining the lands, raking notes, keeping profound silence, and avoiding one another.
The rising capital in which this sale takes place has meanwhile assumed form. A plan has been adopted, the streets have been cleaned, the lots sold on credit, a capitol or court-house decided on. A crowd of people are waiting at the sales. Taverns rise up. Empty the greater part of the year, they are filled on this occa sion beforehand. The cloth is laid for thirty persons. Two or three large rooms which you would not deign to call barns receive, in a dozen beds, twice that number of occupants. Those who cannot find better room extended themselves in their bedclothes on the floor. No places are reserved for dining or sleeping; we are too much of republicans for that. Everyone pays his dollar and has a right to eat and sleep where he pleases provided he does not disturb a former occupant. It is understood that a bed contains two individuals and nobody is so ridiculous as to trouble himself about who is next to him any more than in the pit of a theatre.
The great day at last arrives. The crier puts up the species lands by eighths, beginning by a section and township in regular order. The prices are different, but the sale always opens at one dollar and twentyfive cents per acre. This is the lowest price at which the United States sells. An old Indian village, a situation for a mill, the plantation of a squatter, a place to which a road or a river leads, or which seems likely to become the seat of a city, are so many circumstances which augment the value of lands tenfold or more. All the sales, too, being made according to lines real or imaginary, it often happens that the field or dwelling of a squatter is found cut in two. The sale and the bustle which it occasions continue until all the lands contained in the proclamation have been offered. Those which remain after that in the possession of the United States may be entered for 100 dollars per eighth.
The planter having returned home, sold his lands and house, and added to the number of his Negroes, has set out with all belonging to him: his goods and provisions in carts, his Negroes on foot, himself and his family in a wheeled carriage or on horseback, according to his
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Dr. Joe Knetsch
circumstances. They encamp every evening, traverse the deserts, open ways, make bridges, and arrive at last at the new property. The first thing to be done is to build huts from the trunks of trees for the Negroes and the family. This takes two or three weeks, during which time they bivouac. A field is soon opened and planted, but the great difficulty is to subsist the first year. Maize is scarce, always dear, and carriage very expensive.
And now, instead of little irregular clearings for small huts scattered among trees, we have great ones of fifty to a hundred acres for the first year, surrounded with good fences or hedges; villages with regularlybuilt huts for the Negroes and a large log house containing three or four very convenient rooms with kitchen, stable, &c. for the family. These buildings, it must be admitted, look very miserable outside. But go in! This country is the country of contrasts. Within this almost savage habitation you will find a family as well brought up and as intelligent as you do in Boston or New York. Its manners are not rustic; it has left the world for a time and is engaged in creating a new one around it.
(Achille Murat, The United States of North America , 2d ed., London: Effingham Wilson, 1833. pp. 50-65. Abridged.)
Murat’s descriptive narrative reveals a number of attitudes prevalent during his day. It is the attitude of the white, upper class of planters and merchants frequently found on the frontier. Squatters are nearly sub-human leaches who take from everyone else but contribute nothing but children and dead trees to the landscape. The fact that he acknowledges their ability to clear desired lands is actually very remarkable. Murat’s explanation of the rectangular surveying system is very plain but clear to the European audience to which he was aiming his volume. He also makes sure that this audi ence understood that not everyone on the frontier was the rude, crude type often depicted in European fiction or the novels of Cooper. Murat also gives us the flavor of the times and that is the importance of the piece for those of us looking to find out just what it was like on the frontier of Florida or any other pioneer society. And many of these same pioneers were our forebearers in the surveying profession, lest we should forget that elementary fact.
Forts, Ports, Canals, and Wars
Dr. Joe Knetsch is the author of over two hundred articles and sixteen books, most of them concerning the state of Florida’s historty. Three of these books involve the Seminole Wars and their impact on Florida’s development. He is also a frequent reviewer of books on military history for the Journal of America's Military Past and authored regular articles for Professional Surveyor Magazine for over a decade. For twenty-eight years he served as the historian for the Division of State Lands in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Dr. Knetsch lives in Tallahassee with his wife Linda and is now retired.
ACRES IN CHAINS
ARCHIVES FROM THE
BOUNDARIES AND LANDMARKS
A PRACTICAL MANUAL
BY A. C. MULFORD
DEDICATED
TO W. H. C. PYNCHON
AS IT WAS THROUGH HIS CO Ö PERATION AND ADVICES THAT THE COMPILATION OF THIS MANUAL WAS MADE POSSIBLE
PREFACE
This manual is intended to familiarize the surveyor with the different types of old boundaries that exist throughout the country. A great deal has been written on this general subject, especially in reference to the public lands of the West. Very little, however, is being done on the conveyances of the Eastern States, and it is my hope to furnish something which may prove useful to those who are likely to meet with cases of this sort. No attempt is made to describe how the lines should be measured; the intent is rather to furnish suggestions as to the method of locating the line to be measured - in short, finding it. It is far more important to have faulty measurements on the place where the line truly exists, than an accurate measurement where the line does not exist at all.
New York, Sept., 1912.
A. C. M.
Boundaries and Landmarks
Chapter I.
THE WORK AND TRAINING OF THE SURVEYOR
As compared with the vocation of the civil engineer, the calling of the surveyor has always been regarded as com paratively easy and simple. This is true not only in the popular conception of the two lines of work, but also in the view taken of them in text-books and in courses of instruc tion. The training of the surveyor consists essentially in practice in turning angles, measuring lines and getting over obstructions, to which are added rather meager sug gestions on the subjection of the compass and the re-run ning of old surveys. He is considered preeminently a measurer of land. This is very true, and in certain locali ties and under certain conditions this may compose almost the entire work of the surveyor. But in the vast majority of cases the actual measuring of land forms the smaller portion of his duties. His hardest work is often, to use a colloquial phrase, to “find the land” to be surveyed.
In a large part of our land, through the generations past, the precise boundaries of holdings have received little atten tion. In the years when land was worth comparatively little, when there was little money to be spared from the necessities of life for surveys, and when the surveys, when made, were very crude, little attention was given to the establishment or the maintenance of boundaries. Loose, faulty and ignorant conveyances, the use of perishable landmarks or no landmarks at all, the temptation to build fences “off line” for a dozen reasons, good and bad, and innumerable other things have conspired to render the boundaries of land the most uncertain of all things.
We have today fully entered upon the era of high land values. The high prices paid by the wealthy for lands from which to form estates have revolutionized the meth ods of handling realty. The title of all property must be absolutely guaranteed and payment is
usually made by the acre. As a result heavy demands are made upon the surveyor who finds himself confronted by two necessities, first, the necessity of making an extremely accurate set of measurements and, secondly, the necessity of defining clearly the boundaries of the land which he must measure — and the latter is by far the harder task. These prob lems he must work out single-handed and with the fear of failure shadowing him day by day and hour by hour. Since no two problems present exactly the same complica tions, it is useless for any one to attempt to lay out any fixed rules of procedure, yet it may be fairly said that from experience each surveyor acquires a certain amount of definite information concerning boundaries and land marks and certain definite conceptions concerning the relative importance of different kinds of evidence, both direct and circumstantial. He is compelled to formulate for his own use certain general methods of procedure, and it is probable that the methods worked out by different sur veyors bear a much closer resemblance to each other than would be supposed at first thought.
As far as my observation goes, in his preparatory studies the surveyor receives little help or suggestion to enable him to grapple with this important but elusive part of his work. The intention of this treatise is to endeavor to meet, in a small and tentative manner, this very distinct need. A good deal has been written on this general subject with reference to the public lands of the West, but little has been done in this line in connection with the ordinary convey ances of the eastern United States. My hope is to furnish something which may prove useful to those who are des tined to wrestle with problems of this nature. No attempt will be made to describe methods of measuring the line; the intention is to furnish suggestions for finding the line which is to be measured. For after all, when it comes to a question of the stability of property and the peace of the community, it is far more important to have a some what faulty measurement of the spot where the line truly exists than it is to have an extremely accurate measure ment of the place where the line does not exist at all.
Chapter II.
THE DESCRIPTION OF PROPERTY. SIMPLE DEEDS WITHOUT DIMENSIONS.
The description of property by landmarks and by bound aries is very ancient. A special curse is pronounced in the Old Testament against the man who shall remove his neighbor's landmark, while a very large part of the Book of Joshua is occupied by the description of the various pieces of land allotted to the different houses of the Israel ites. While the chief importance was put on the landmark, yet it is plain that there was felt a need of some further concrete description of the land. This feeling has increased with the growth of civilization, until to-day we have arrived at the guaranteed title and the detailed map which accom panies it. The need of such descriptions is intensified by the habitual ignorance of boundaries which is to be found in those who have occupied land for many years. Every surveyor has had numberless cases where the owners have been absolutely unable to follow out the boundaries of their land even approximately, and equally numerous cases where boundaries pointed out in all confidence and cer tainty have been found to be grossly inaccurate. A written description on the other hand, while it may be originally faulty and while it is liable to clerical error in copying, is free from the personal equation — it is free from preconceived ideas and it does not forget with the lapse of years.
The surveyor, then, is driven at once to supplement and correct the personal information furnished him by every thing in the way of recorded descriptions on which he can lay his hands.
These records are of three kinds:
1. Records of the piece of land in question.
2. Records of the private lands which bound it.
3. Records of the public lands which bound it, in the form of highways, etc.
To the above boundaries should perhaps be added bound aries by water, were it not for the fact that boundaries by water are from their shifting nature essentially without the established records found in the three previous cases. The law prescribes clearly the course to be followed in surveying along water boundaries.
The records of the land in question and of the private lands adjoining are, of course, the deeds which conveyed the properties to their owners. These deeds are to be found in the hands of the owners or in certain places where they have, for one reason or another, deposited them. Cer tified copies of them are also to be found (unless the deed has gone unrecorded), fully indexed, in the Office of the County Clerk, where they are open to public inspection. To these records must be added such former maps and “cards of land” as may have been made and preserved. They are a great help when they can be obtained, but they are usually few and far between.
The records of the public lands adjoining are usually records of Town Highways or County Highways, to be found with the Town and County clerks respectively. In the case of municipal surveys there are records of streets, parks, etc., which are to be found with the proper city officials.
The fundamental description of property, however, is to be regarded as the DEED, and it is necessary first to con sider the nature and intention of this instrument in order to understand why it is so often disappointing and deficient from the surveyor's standpoint.
A deed is essentially a lawyer's not a surveyor's docu ment. Its intention is to make the possession of a certain piece of land sure to the owner forever, not to give a mi nute description of the land for the comfort of the surveyor. For legal reasons some lawyers prefer to omit from a deed all data of direction and length of the boundaries, describ ing it only by adjoiners and landmarks or by adjoiners only. Such a deed, after stating the names of the seller and buyer, the amount of compensation, the date of the transfer and the town,
county and state where the land is situated, would proceed to the description somewhat as follows:
“Beginning at the Northwest corner of the property to be conveyed where it adjoins the Highway leading from M— to N— and running thence in an Easterly direction along the land of William Smith until it comes to the land of Richard Jones, thence, in a Southerly direction along the land of the said Richard Jones to a large stone at the Southeast corner of the land being conveyed where it adjoins the land of Richard Jones and land now or late of John Brown, thence in a Westerly direction along the land now or late of John Brown to the East side of the aforesaid Highway, thence in a Northerly direction along the Easterly side of the aforesaid Highway to the point or place of beginning, Containing within the said bounds Forty and one-half acres of land be the same more or less.”
Then usually follow references to the records of earlier transfers of the same land, showing continuity of title and various other matter according to the particular nature of the deed. Finally come the signatures of the grantors, the acknowledgment before a Notary Public and the County Clerk's memorandum of public record.
It is argued that the above description clearly and concisely conveys all the land lying in the four-sided area bounded by Smith, Jones, Brown and the highway without raising any questions or controversies; while if directions and distances were given they might fall short of or overlap the known boundaries of the adjoiners, in one case leaving unclaimed gores of land and in the other leading to boundary controversies. Nevertheless, the surveyor is ex pected to take this deed and from it define the land with the greatest clearness and accuracy.
It is probable and it may be fairly said that there are two standpoints from which the surveying of the land may be regarded. In the first place this 1and may be surveyed “as occupied” or “as found in possession.” This means that it is to be surveyed according to the present standing boundaries between the land and the four adjoiners,
no attempt being made to raise the dangerous question as to whether the fences, etc., occupy to the original boundary lines. If this method is satisfactory to all parties interested, there seems to be no reason why the land should not be measured and marked as the boundaries stand. But to guard against complications in years to come, the map or description should be clearly marked “surveyed as occupied” or “surveyed as found possession” or “as the fences now stand” and the details given. This will prevent misunderstandings which might arise from the survey being subsequently used to settle boundary disputes.
The other method, which is generally adopted as the correct one, is to endeavor to determine the boundaries of the land “as originally intended to be conveyed.” In eight cases out of ten all parties would prefer to get back to the original boundaries as they stood at the time of early transfers. This is all the more desirable since the deed made out yesterday is very apt to follow closely in verbatim, the wording of the early descriptions. In case of boundary controversies this method must always be followed. In any case it does no harm to know the ancient conditions, since it is a very simple matter for the parties concerned to set aside the old boundaries in favor of the new, if they believe this to be the wiser course.
For this reason throughout this treatise it will be taken for granted that the surveyor is trying to get back to the boundaries of the land “as originally intended to be conveyed.” •
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