St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-31
MUSTY OLD RECORDS.
The Surveyor Generals Off
cial Files Go Back a
Century.
An Old Surveyors Chain That
AntedateS the Oldest
Settler.
This Office Is the Only and
Original of the United :
States.
A Chat With General Comp
ton on Antique Sur
veying.

| T
Besides the one in Alaska there arebut
sixteen United States surveyor generals
| in the United States and territories. The
Office has been very important one, as
1t was responsible for locating he
| boundaries of all the states and terri
! tories, with the possible exception of the
| original thirteen states, besides the loca-
ton OF numerous patents and grants.
| Col. James Compton, surveyor general
for the district comprising the
| state of Minnesota, has the honor of
| filling one of the most important of
| these offices. A GLOBE reporter dropped
| into his office yesterday to have a social
| chat with the atfable official, and incl
| dentally asked when the office for this
| district was established. The answer
was surprise to the knight of the pen
| Gil as he was informed that the Office
here has the records of and is in fact
the fist office of the kind ever estab-
lished i'll the United States. A deputy
lald before the reporter bound volume
containing the files of letters of
the original surveyor generals Of
nee. which was created in the
spring of 1877. Col. Compton
humorously remarked that he had rec
OrdS dating back 5000 years. and pro-
duced copy of the Bible to substanti-
ate the assertion. The reporter sug-
geSted that the surveyor general had no
authority to go farther back than the
records of George Washington, the man
not only first in war, first in peace,
etc." but first in civil engineering in
this country, and turned his attention
to the volume of letter files. From
this it was learned that the nrst survey
or general after the establishment of
the federal government was Rufus Put
nam. Esq, aid his office was at Mari
eta, o.
The First of the Files
were copies of letters patent issued by
George Washington, president of the
United States, and signed by Edward
Randolph, secretary, dated Sept. 30,
1894, by which there was granted to
John Cleves SymmeS and his associates
two large tracts of lands in Ohio, bor-
dering on the Ohio, the Great Mama
and little Mama rivers, in the vicinity
of the present cities of Cincinnati and
Marietta. The patents were for l,O0O,-
600 acres and for ,6S2 acres respect
lively, with certain reservations for Fort
Washington, now Cincinnati. and sun
dry sections for school, religious and
other purposes. ThSe patents werh
isSu ed in pursuance of acts OF congress
of IT'S and other years in pursuance of
contracts madewith John CleveS Symmds
by Arthur Lee, Walter Livingston and
Samuel Osgeod, commissioners of THE
board of the treasury. The patent re-
cites the compensation for the 81 ,6S2-
acre tract to have been S165, 5,693.42 lin
certificates and warrants for military
rights to lands turned into the treasury.
The larger tract was also similar
grant and contained reservations Of
sections. There is an original letter
from Joseph NOurSe, register of the
treasury, directed to Rufus Putnam,
ESQ.,, surveyor general. of Marietta,
dated Philadelphia, March 80, 1877, in
which it is stated that eighteen blank
books have been forwarded to him for
use in his Office. Another letter of May
s in the same year states that a chain
had been forwarded by post to be used
in testing surveyors chains, and which
was made to order by Benjamine Rut-
tenhouse, who had averred that it may
be depended upon as accurate. This
chain is of steel, and is still in use in
the st. Paul office, being bright and in
fine order. The original Office was
moved to Cincinnati, o. at a subsequent
date, and was subsequently, removed to
Detroit, Mich, as will appear by the
following liberal extracts from letter
on file.
An Ancient Order.
General Land Office, April 81, 1S45.-Sir:
Having this day received instruction from the
president for the immediate removal of the
office of the surveyor general of Ohio Indi-
ana and Michigan from Cincinnati to the
city of Detloit Mich, under the proviso in
the article making appropriation tor the
compensation of the surveyor general north
west of the Ohio and the clerks in his Office
contained in the act of congress approved
March, }. 1915, l have, therefore,
to direct you to effect the re-
moval Immediately, taking the precaution
to secure the maps. records and documents
in boxes suitable for transportation, the
boxes to be made water-tight and hooped
with iron. Should there be any article of
furniture that it would not be expedient to
transport you will be pleased to dispose of
the same at public auction and exhibit the
proceeds i'll your surveying accounts.
The necessary expenses incurred in the re-
moval, including your travelling expenses,
are to be charged in your surveying accounts.
Enclosed is copy of public notice advs-
ing OF this order, which has been directed to
be published at Cincinnati, Indianapolis and
Detroit L am, very respectfully, sir, your
obedient servant, JAMES SHIELDS.
Commissioner
of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. Cincin-
nati o.
The office was transferred to st. Paul
in April. 1857. There are many other
interesting letters and documents on
file, among them being an official notifi-
cation of the passage of an act of con-
gress authorizing the sale of town lots
in the present city of Cincinnati, then
Fort Washington, at public auction.
Most of these letters bear the post
marks on the backs of the sheets, and
the wax seals showing that they were
folded and sealed and sent without en-
velopes or wrappers. Some of them are
marked Free" whilst others are
marked with the amount of the postage.
There is no record to show the amount
of postage upon the surveyors chain,
but it is probable it was sent free: if
not it must have been expensive mail
ing from Philadelphia to Marietta, when.
it's remembered that a letter cost %.
cents for distance over 800 miles.
EXCITING YACHT RACE.