Saline County, Missouri - Chapter 3: Lands and Surveys, 1910

Chapter 3: Lands and Surveys

Thomas Jefferson was the author of our system of land measurement and surveyino". In 1784 our i^-in-ernment. finding itself in possession of the great Northwest Territory, determined to adopt a system of surveys which would simplify the description. A committee of Congress, composed of Thomas Jefferson, chairman, Hugh Williamson, of North Carolina, David Howell, of Rhode Island, Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, and Jacob Reed, of South Carolina, was raised to devise a plan of survey of the public domain. This committee reported, May 7, 1784, an ordinance for this purpose. By this ordinance the lands were to be divided into tracts ten miles square and these into lots one mile square, to be numbered from i to 100 beginning in the northwest comer and running from west to east and from east to west consecutively. This ordinance was amended and reported to Congress April 26, 1785. As amended it required the lands to be surveyed into townships of seven miles square, each township to contain forty-nine sections and each section to be divided into lots of three hundred and twentv acres each. This is the first mention in our history of "townships and sections" in our public surveys. The ordinance was further amended and as finally passed May 20, 1785, it provided that the townships should be six miles square, divided into thirty-six sections each, numbered from i to 36, beginning with No. i in the southeast corner of the township, running north to No. 6, then back to the south line with 7, and S(^ on, ending with 36 in the northwest corner. By act May 18, 1796, our present system of numbering the sections beginning in the northeast corner of the township and running from east to west and from west to east consecutively, ending in the scuitheast corner, was adopted. The townships were to be made by lines running east and west and north and south, six miles apart. Base lines, running east and west, and principal meridians, running north and south, were either run or adopted. The Ohio river from the Pennsylvania line down to a point four or five miles from Jeffersonville, Indiana, was adopted as the first base line for the public surveys ; and a sun-eyed base line extending to the Mississippi, began on the Ohio river, a short distance above Jeffersonville, .nnd reached the ^MississipjM ri\cr just bel(-w St. Louis. The first ])ul)lic land sur\-eyed into townships and ranges was the eastern part of the state of Ohio, constituting what became known as "The Seven Ranges." These ranges were east of a guide meridian running from the Ohio river north about a half mile east of Canton, Ohio. Other guide meridians were surveyed in Ohio, but the first principal meridian that was numbered coincided with the west line of the state of Ohio. The surveys continued westward, and the second principal meridian starts on the Ohio river at the mouth of Little Blue and coincides with the line eighty-six degrees and twenty-eight minutes west longitude. The third starts at the mouth of the Ohio and the fourth at the mouth of the Illinois river, both running north. The Mississippi river had thus been reached by successive surveys about ten years after the Louisiana Purchase. When we came into possession of this territory, March lo, 1804, we extended to it the land policy of the nation, and of course the Spanish policy prevailing up to that time of granting free homesteads to actual settlers was at once stopped. But that was not all. It was made a crime to "squat" on the public domains, and the President was authorized to use the military force, if necessary, to remove any intruders found thereon. And even this was not all. No one could even buy land for a home. This restrictive and illiberal policy continued till July 13, 18 18, a period of over fourteen years after we acquired the territory. This delay teaches us how slowly events moved a hundred years ago. Several reasons, however, may be assigned for this tardy action of the government :

5. The majority of the inhabitants of the district of Louisiana was interested in French and Spanish land grants, and they feared the survey and sale of the public lands would interfere with their claims.

But there was another cause of friction between the settlers here and the government. By the treaty of April 30, 1803, the LTnited States stipulated to protect "the inhabitants of the ceded territory * * * * j^-^ ^j^g ff-ee enjoyment of their liberty, property and religion," w^iich w-as construed to mean that the incomplete grants of land made by the French and Spanish governments should be confirmed, but in carrying out that stipulation Congress pursued, in the opinion of the inhabitants here, a very narrow and unjust policy. A General Assembly, elected by the people in the district of

Louisiana, was held in vSt. T.ouis, September 13 to 27, 1804, which drew up a remonstrance against the form of government prescribed l)y Congress for them, and especially against the act providing for the adjustment of the Spanisli g'rants, which was sent to Congress, l^his was the first General Assembly west of the Mississippi and. though voluntary, there is little doul)t it was in character truly reprcsentati\-e of the people.

The time finally came when the government felt it to be its duty to throw the lands west of the Mississippi river upon the market for sale, and as early as February 25, 181 1. Congress authorized the President to have the lands here, to which the Indian title had been extinguished, suiweyed and put upon the market for sale, and a land office, to be located by the President, was established. But the war with England coming on soon afterwards, nothing was done till after its close. Indeed, the Indian raids and wars, incited largely no doubt by English emissaries, were mainly on the territory which every one conceded would be first sui-veyed and sold.

Points had to be selected from which to begin the survey of a base line and principal meridian west of the Mississippi, and there was quite an extended correspondence in regard to them.

Maj. Amos Stoddard, in his sketches of Louisiana, written probably about 18 10, suggested that all the land east of the following line be surveyed and sold : Beginning at the mouth of the St. Francois, up that river to its source ; then north to the Meramec, up that river to a point due south from the mouth of the Gasconade; thence to the mouth of that river, and from thence northwardly along the Fox and Sac Indian line.

This is the first suggestion, so far as I know, of the mouth of the St. Francois as a starting point for the survey of the public lands west of the Mississippi.

Bv act of Congress of April 29. 1812. six million acres of the public lands were appropriated for military bounties, two million to be located in Michigan, two million in Illinois, and two million to be located between the Arkansas and St. Francois rivers, then included in the territory of Missouri. This evidentlv had a controlling influence in determining upon the mouth of the Arkansas ri\er as a starting point for the fifth ])rincipal meridian. Another controlling factor in the .selection of this as the starting point was the historic interest that attached to the mouth of that river. Marquette and Joliet had camped there in 1773. where they found Indian villages. LaSalle also camped there in the spring of 1682. and erected a cross - the priests singing a hvmn - and took possession of the country for France. Tonty, in 1786. built a fort near the mouth of the Arkansas, and there is no doubt the first French settlement west of the Father of Waters was made in that vicinity. The "bird of prey," the notorious John Law, about 1720, selected a large bodv of land between the Arkansas and St. Francois rivers, where he established a German settlement, nearly two hundred years ago. Up to November 12. 1812, this territory had had no representative in Congress, but that day Edward Hempstead was elected delegate, and he introduced into Congress a bill containing more liberal provisions for the confirmation of the Spanish grants and extending the right of pre-emption to the settlers, who in large numbers had, in defiance of the law, gone upon the public lands ; this bill, mainly through his efforts, became a law April 16, 18 14. This act was the first recognition of any right of a settler to a home on Uncle Sam's domain west of the river, and this was a mere right to buy land, occupied, at the minimum price, two dollars per acre, on the usual terms.

William C. Rector had been surveying the public lands in the ^^'est for several years, and in 18 14 it appears he was principal surveyor for Missouri and Illinois. At that time the public lands were under the jurisdiction of the secretary of the treasury.

The act of Congress of April 25, 1812, had established a general land office as a bureau of the treasury department and Josiah Meigs, who had been surveyor-general with headquarters at Cincinnati, was made commissioner of the general land office in 18 14. Edward Tiffin was then surveyor-general of the Northwest Territory, with headquarters at Cincinnati, and his jurisdiction extended to the territory of Missouri.

May 28, 1814, Aleigs wrote to Surveyor-General Edward Tiffin at Cincinnati in regard to the survey of the lands in Missouri. In this letter he states he had received letters from \\''illiam Russell and Edward Bates as to the best method to convey these lands. From this correspondence it appears that William C. Rector had outlined to Tiffin, in 1814, a plan for the survey of a certain amount of land west of the Mississippi, which ]\Ieigs approved, but owing to the hostile attitude of the most of the Indian tribes, he deemed it best not to undertake the work that year; but as prospects for peace were better, estimates of the work might be obtained, to be submitted to the next Congress.

March 24, 18 15, Tiffin was directed to survey a standard meridian, to be drawn from the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers, and to locate the two million acres of military bounty land, to be bounded eastwardly by the Mississippi, and on the west by the Arkansas river, and if a line drawn west from the mouth of the St. Francois would not give two million acres, then the balance of the bounty land should be taken north of that base line.

Tiffin was informed June i, 1815, by General Meigs, that the general land office had about completed a system for Rector for the survey of the extensive territory of Missouri, a work which ought to have been done long before that, and that it should be pushed in the future. It seems an order suspending the survey of the two million acres of bounty land at the mouth of the Arkansas had been revoked, for, July 6, 181 5, Meigs wrote Tiffin that the order suspending this survey had been revoked and the latter was directed to proceed to have this bounty land surveyed, but said the government would not be responsible for the interference of any Indian tribes, and adds, that "if the contractors were discreet men, no danger need be apprehended," Surveys then were made under contract. Again, July 18, 181 5, Meigs informed Tiffin by letter, that the plan of survey, proposed by Rector, had been submitted to the President, and no new instructions for the survey of the meridian and base lines would be issued. August 2, 181 5, Meigs directed Tiffin to report, after consulting General Rector, what lands in Missouri ought to be surveyed. Prospect R. Robbins, a deputy surveyor, entered into a contract October 9, 18 15, to sui"vey the fifth principal meridian, from the mouth of the Arkansas north to the Missouri river. Robbins administered the proper oath to Hiram Scott and Alexander Baldridge, as chairman, near the mouth of the Arkansas, October 27, 181 5. John Baldridge was appointed axeman. The work of surveying the fifth principal meridian began at the mouth of the Arkansas, October 27, 181 5, They reached the base line running west from the mouth of the St. Francois, November 10, 181 5, twenty-six miles and thirty chains from the Mississippi, and November 6, 181 5, they crossed the southern line of what is now the state of Missouri, in what was then Lawrence county, though at that time no such boundary line existed, nor had the Missouri Compromise Line ever been heard of.

December 6, 18 15, must be noted as an epoch-marker. That day marks the setting for the first time of the Jacob Staff to survey the public lands of this state, preparatory to putting them on the market for sale for home-making. It is true, there had been a government surveyor at St. Louis ever since I795» under the Spanish government, and continued under ours, but he was not authorized to survey any lands except what are known as old French and Spanish grants. The people had waited, not patiently, but still waited from March 10, 1804, to December 6, 181 5, a period of eleven years and over, for this act towards throwing the public domain open to settlement.

The crossing of the fifth principal meridian of our southern border was eighty-one miles west of the Mississippi, and about twenty-seven and one-half miles west of the Iron Mountain railroad. At that time there were only eight counties in the Missouri territory, which then included the Louisiana Purchase, St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Genevieve, Washington, Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, Lawrence and Arkansas. The west line of the Osage Purchase constituted the west line of St. Charles, St. Louis. Washington (by law but not in fact), Lawrence and Arkansas counties. The fifth principal meridian started at the mouth of the Arkansas river in Arkansas county, ran north through a portion of that county, and then through Lawrence, Cape Girardeau, Washington and St. Louis counties to the Missouri river, which they reached at what is now South Point, Franklin county, December 28, 181 5. a distance of three hundred and twelve miles. The line did not touch a single settlement from our southern border to within three or four miles of the Missouri river, and no doubt the surveyors had to rely on wild game, chiefl}-. for food, which pioneer hunters were onl}' too glad to furnish them for a consideration. And it is altogether probable they did some hunting- on their own hook.

Joseph C. Brown, deputy surveyor, had contracted to survey the base line, and he, with Xathan Meyers and Richard Sessions, chainmen, and Nathan Gilpin, marker, began the survey of this line October 27, 181 5 (the same day Robbins commenced surveying the fifth principal meridian), and reached the fifth principal meridian November 11, 181 5, and the twenty-ninth township, December 5, 18 15. This base line runs a short distance south of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Taylor Berr}-, deputy surveyor, entered into a contract, January 12. 1816. to survey the fifth principal meridian from the Missouri north to the north line of t(5Avnship 50, and he, with Philip Perkins, J. Martin, Samuel Gray and George Arey as chainmen and markers, began the work on the south side of the Missouri, January 18, 1816, and completed his contract January 31, 18 16. Elias Barcroft contracted January 18, 18 16, to survey this meridian from the north line of township 50, now in Lincoln county, to the Mississippi river, and he began work May 27, 18 16, and reached that river about two miles above Clarksville in what is now Pike county. May 29, 1816.

By examining a map, it will be seen that the fifth principal meridian, as thus surveyed, coinciding with the line of ninety degrees fifty-eight minutes west longitude, is three hundred and seventy miles long and is the chord of an arch formed by the Mississippi river. That river swings its farthest eastward SAveep near Norfolk. Mississippi county is nearly one hundred and five miles east of St. Louis. The fifth principal meridian has been made the basis of the sun^eys of the public lands in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, all of Minnesota west of the Mississippi river and all of the two Dakotas east of the

Missouri river. Tt, if extended from Pike county, would have crossed the Mississippi into Ilhnois, and would ha\e crossed to the west side again about the middle of Iowa, near the north line of township yj. It was surveyed from the ])oiiU where it crossed the ^Mississippi into Iowa north to the Mississippi, where it again crossed over to the east side, a distance of seventynine miles, and, if extended north from this last Mississippi crossing, it would strike Lake Superior near Ashland.

So far as Missouri is concerned, the actual survey of the fifth i)rincipal meridian terminated in Pike county, as stated above, but it was in practice assumed to be continued north through Illinois and Wisconsin, making it the standard line for the lands west of the Mississippi, as stated above. From the base line, running west from the mouth of the St. Francois, one hundred and sixty-three townships to our northern boundary, a distance, approximately, of nine hundred seventy-eight miles, have been surveyed, and from that line nineteen townships to the south line of Arkansas, a distance of one hundred fourteen miles, making the whole distance on a straight line from the southern boundary of Arkansas to the northern boundary of Minnesota, one thousand ninety-two miles. The ranges were numbered from this meridian, east and west, and we find eighteen ranges or portions of ranges to the east, and fortythree or portions thereof west of that line inside of the boundaries of Missouri.

Aleigs notified Tiffin, January 12, 1816, that the proposition supposedly made by Rector to survey two hundred townships in Missouri had l^een approved and that one hundred five townships would be offered for sale at St. Louis. And again, March 6, 181 6, Meigs wrote Tiffin that the President had directed that one hundred townships in the vicinity of St. Louis be surveyed, and. at the receiver's suggestion, the land, ceded by the Sac and Fox Indians by the treaty of 1804, be first surveyed and the balance of the townships be surA^eyed in the vicinity of St. Louis, one hundred townships to be surveyed into sections. Of course, this was all that was at that time expected to be offered for sale.

William C. Rector was addressed at Kaskaskia, Illinois, May 10, 1816, notif}-ing him that a new land district had been formed, composed of Missouri and Illinois territories, and that he had been appointed surveyor-general of that district. May 11, 1816, Rector was directed by the secretary of the treasury to sun^ey the five hundred thousand acres of bounty land authorized bv Act 29. April, 1816, in connection wdth the lands north of the Missouri. By this act the bounty land was not to be located on any land to wliicli the Indian title was not extinguished. Two days after this order. May 13, 18 t6, the treaty with the Pilack Hawk party of the Sac tril)c was entered into, ratifying the treaty of 1804. Rector at once proceeded to let contracts for the survey of range and township lines in the vicinity of St. Louis, and for their subdivision, preparatory to offering the lands for sale. It seems that Rector at first made his headquarters at Kaskaskia, but August 26, 18 16, we find him at St. Louis, and the office of the surveyor-general for Missouri and Illinois was ever after that in that city.

May I, 18 18, Josiah Meigs, commissioner of the general land office, sent Alexander McNair, register, and Samuel Hammond, receiver of the land office at St. Louis, the President's proclamation that the sale of public lands would begin at that office August 3, 1818, on which day the sales did begin. That was a great day for St. Louis and the Missouri territory. From March 10, 1804, to that day, no one had been able to obtain, by purchase or gift, title to any of the public lands for home making or for speculation. Here was a period of fourteen years before the public domain was put upon the market. The minimum price for the public lands at that time was two dollars an acre, one-twentieth in cash and the balance in five annual installments. The lands were first offered for sale to the highest bidder at public auction, and if no one bid two dollars an acre they were returned unsold for want of bidders, and after that they could be entered at the land offices for the minimum price of two dollars an acre, on the above terms. The President issued a proclamation that the land sales at Old Franklin, Howard county, would begin September 7, 1818, but there was quite a spirited controversy about the legality of offering the lands there for sale, as they were clearly within the Sac and Fox boundary lines, and one of the officers there resigned, and the sales in consequence were continued to November 2, 181 8, on which day the land sales began, Gen. Thomas A. Smith being receiver and Charles Carroll, register. "The crowd in attendance upon these sales was said to have numbered thousands of well-dressed and intelligent men from all parts of the East and South." This sale at Franklin doubtless included the lands of this county, which had been surveyed in 1816 and 181 7 by Gen. Duff Green.

At the first public sales, there seems to have been quite a good deal of competition among the bidders, but this was evidently caused by those from a distance, for the settlers had a tacit understanding not to bid against each other for the lands they respectively wanted, and in after years there seems to have been no competition for the lands at public sale, and hence no lands were sold that way, or at least, not much.

the officers of the land office of their pre-emption claims. So universal was the pre-emption rio^ht claimed, that the settlers there were called "pre-emptioners."

William H. Crawford, of Georgia, secretary of the treasury, November 27, 1 81 8. wrote Josiah Meigs, commissioner of the general land office, that the right of pre-emption inside of the Sac and Fox Indian reservation did not exist, because at the time of the passage of the act of April 12, 1814, granting the right of pre-emption in the INIissouri territory, these lands were not recognized as under the civil government of the territory or as being subject to pre-emption. This letter caused great excitement, and the right of pre-emption in Howard county became a political one, and its discussion was to the exclusion of every other question, and on March 3. 1819, Congress passed an act confirming the right of pre-emption to the people in this district. It seems Secretary Crawford was inconsistent in holding that the right of preemption did not exist as to lands west of the Sac and Fox line of 1804, for he raised no objection to the survey and sale of those lands, and the survey of the five hundred thousand acres of bounty lands therein. If the government had the right to sell those lands, or grant them to soldiers as a bounty, it certainlv had the power to grant the right of pre-emption.

Many of the most illustrious men of our state were among the "preemptioners," and they, in after years, became potent factors in the evolution and progress of our great state.

The credit system in the sale of the public lands very soon proved disastrous, and in 1820 Congress interposed for the relief of those who had gone in debt beyond their means to pay, and the price of lands was reduced to one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre in cash.

The state of Missouri manifested a growing disposition and hankering for the public lands within her borders, and ultimately received one-fifth of the entire area for school, seminary, internal improvements, railroad and swamp lands, and also her part of the surplus revenue arising from the sale of public lands.

There was no free homestead law enacted for the reason the general government mainly depended on the land sales for revenue. This was abandoned by the Republican party when it came in power., substituting therefor a protective tariff.

Land Titles

The great variety of land titles to be found in this state, originating from French and Spanish sovereignty, as well as from our own federal government, have naturally created a vast amount of disputed land titles, resulting in long and difficult contests in the courts between the various claimants to settle and finally determine the rights and interests of the parties thereto. Xo more intricate, difficult nor perplexing- questions were ever considered by the lord high chancellor of England than those brought before the courts of this state in settling the conflicting land titles here in Missouri, arising in manv cases from these different and various sources of title.

A notable case of land title litigation, not occurring in Saline county, however, but immediately adjoining its borders, was that of the heirs of General Ashley against Turley and several others, involving the title and ownership of thirty thousand arpents of land lying about the mouth of the Lamine river in Cooper county. This case is reported in the Thirteenth Missouri Report, page four hundred thirty, the parties on either side being represented by some of the most able and learned lawyers in the state, that is to say. ^^'ashington Adams, representing the plaintiffs, and Abiel Leonard and Peyton R. Hayden, the defendants, the issue being a question between a Spanish grant to Pierre Cheorteau, on the one hand, and Xew Madrid locators, on the other, the case being determined in favor of the New Madrid locators. The heirs of General Ashley maintained their title to all the lands under the Spanish grant except those tracts which had been taken up under the Xew Madrid certificates and in the actual possession of the claimants.

Gen. \\'. H. Ashley (whose heirs got this large grant of land) was a conspicuous and leading man in this state, although not a resident of this county, but of Cooper county, where he resided and died in 1839. Ashlev was one of the many talented, dashing and picturesque characters wdio came to this territory soon after it was acquired. He was perhaps a man of more education and polish than any, but at the same time this did not diminish his courage or virility or his ability to lead among the rough and rugged population to be found here when he came out to St. Genevieve, in 1803. ^^"ith(ntt being inferior to an)' of the early fur traders in the game and manlv qualities for which they were all distinguished, he was superior to most of them in education and the acquirements and manners of polite society. He was as accomplished a gentleman in the drawing- room as he was a fearless explorer and fighter in the Rocky Mountains, and it is not strange, therefore, that he has come to be recognized as chief among the fur traders. He was born in Powhattan county, Virginia, and died in St. Louis in 1839, in his fifty-fourth year. He left no children, and his lands have passed to other hands; but his solitary grave is yet pointed out on the Missouri river bluff, (^ne mile above the mouth of the Lamine ri\-er, nothing- remaining to mark his grave except a cedar tree at the head and a cotton wood at the foot, the grave of one of the most accomplished and gifted men among the early citizens of Missouri.