This non-printable version of Tom Sprague's book is provided as a service to the Wisconsin Surveying community. It was scanned from the 1974 original and updated using modern fonts. No changes were made to the content except to correct spelling errors in the descriptive part of the text (mispellings in the Instructions and Speciman Notes were not corrected).
A bound hard copy version is available from the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors. Ordering information is at the WSLS Store.
Table of Contents (each section is a pdf file).
Section 00. Cover and Forward
Section 01. Congressional Acts
Section 02. Circular to the Surveyors General, June 10, 1820, re: Mode to be pursued in designating the legal subdivisions of sections
Section 03. Historical approach to the restoration of Government Corners in Wisconsin
Section 04. General Instructions To His Deputies; By the Surveyor General of the United States, for the States of Ohio and Indiana, and the Territory of Michigan, 1833
Section 05. Specimen Form of the field notes of the Subdivision of a Township into Sections; included as part of hand written instructions of 1833 on file at Commissioner of Public Lands Office, Madison, Wisconsin
Section 06. General Instructions To His Deputies; By The Surveyor General of the United States For Wisconsin and Iowa, 1840
Section 07. General Instructions; Office of the Surveyor General of Wisconsin and Iowa, Dubuque, 1850's. Copied from hand written instructions on file with Commissioner of Public Lands, Madison, Wisconsin
Section 08. Specimen Form of the field notes of the Survey of Township Lines; included as part of the hand written instructions of 1850's on file in Commissioner of Public Lands Office, Madison, Wisconsin
Section 09. Specimen Form of the field notes of the Survey of the Subdivision of Township into Sections; included as part of hand written instructions of 1850's on file at the Commissioner of Public Lands Office, Madison, Wisconsin
Section 10. General Instructions to Deputy Surveyors, For Surveying Public Lands and Private Confirmed Claims. Office of the Surveyor General for the States of Illinois and Missouri, St. Louis, 1856. Photostatic copy of the original obtained from the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management.
Section 11. Instructions, Especially for Surveying Private Confirmed Claims, States of Illinois and Missouri, 1856.
Section 12. Appendix; General Instructions to Deputy Surveyors, For Surveying Public Lands and Private Confirmed Claims, Office of the Surveyor General for the States of Illinois and Missouri, 1856.
Section 13. History of The Subdivision of Wisconsin Sections and Monuments
Section 14. History of Wisconsin Territory and State Laws; County Surveyor
Section 15. History of Wisconsin Laws; Erection and Perpetuation of Landmarks
Questions and comments should be sent to Jerry Mahun at jmahun@yahoo.com.
Revised 2 July 2010