Surveyor general

“ The person seeking to do so must first make his selection—a matter not very easy of attainment, for persons holding land in a neighbourhood, instead of helping with information, almost invariably place every possible obstacle in the way of the newcomer. The selection made, the next step to be taken is to apply by letter to the Surveyor-General to have it measured. Shortly thereafter, that officer will reply and inform the writer that his application has been received and submitted to the District Surveyor for his report as to whether the land is fit for agriculture, etc., etc. ”

“ The Surveyor General will afford claimants for Crown Lands every information in his power, and will exhibit to them such maps as they may desire to inspect, and give them instructions in the mode of describing accurately, in their report of selection, the lands they may desire to obtain. ”

“ After the decision of the land commissioners, a deputy surveyor, under instructions from the surveyor general of the United States for California, made a survey which purported to show the boundaries of the claim confirmed, and this survey was approved by the surveyor general, May 7, 1854, but nothing further appears to have been done under it. ”

“ Thus, unless a tract is well-known to be mineral in character, and is notoriously operated for mining purposes at the time of survey of the township, it is just as liable to be returned as agricultural land as anything else, because the deputy surveyor, upon whose field notes the Surveyor-General always bases his returns, is usually in a hurry to get over as much ground as possible, and consequently pays no heed to geological conditions, even if he knew anything about them. ”

“ If these verdicts be true, (and we must assume they are,) the Surveyor General has never yet performed the task imposed upon him, of making a survey and map of the outboundary, including out-lots, common-field lots, &c., belonging to the village, now city, of St. ”

“ Persons employed herein not to be purchasers.Provided always and be it hereby declared, that no surveyor-general, register, under-surveyor, or any other person imployed in the execution of this service, his or their childe or children, during the time of their imployment, or any in trust for him or them, shall be admitted directly or indirectly to be a purchaser of any part of the lands to be surveyed, upon pain that the purchase be void unless that they do first acquaint the commissioners of Parliament with their desires, and obtain license from them for the same. ”

“ All grants shall be made in the name of the king, by the governor-general of the province, who will at the same time appoint a surveyor to fix the bounds thereof, both in front and depth, in presence of the judge ordinary of the district, and of the adjoining settlers who shall be present at the survey ”

“ The Professors of this Science [of land surveying] are honoured with a more earnest attention than falls to the lot of any other philosophers. Arithmetic, Theoretical Geometry, Astronomy, and Music are discoursed upon to listless audiences, sometimes to empty benches. But the land surveyor is like a judge; the deserted fields become his forum, crowded with eager spectators. You would fancy him a madman when you see him walking along the most devious paths. ”

“ And wee doe further certifie, each of us for his owne respective worke, that wee have examined the severall barronyes undernamed, by joining the common lines of severall mens worke, by reprotracting each line and angle according to the originall field books, by comparing each surround with the abstracts or catalogues of lands to be surveyed, received from the Surveyor-Generall's office, and by casting or recasting up of the contents of every surround ”

“ That the Surveyor-Generall or his deputy doe receive from Dr William Petty, and certifie under their hands and seales, their receipt into the Surveyor-Generalls office of the particular plotts and bookes of reference unto them belonging, fairely engrossed, of all the forfeited and other lands by him admeasured in the barronyes and countyes mentioned in the first of the articles made betweene him, the said Doctor, and the said Surveyor-Generall on the behalfe of the State, bearing date the 11th of December, 1654. Dated at the Councill chamber in Dublyn, the 17th of June, 1657. ”

“ For these reasons the surveyors became the men needed by generals to guide the armies, by the great land-companies to point out right fields for speculation, by transportation companies and quartermasters and traders to designate the best paths to follow through the black forests. The tried, experienced surveyor was in an admirable position to secure a comfortable fortune for his labor. ”

“ Surveyors measure the land, you know. They measure people's gardens and house-lots and farms, and can tell just where to put the fences, and how much land belongs to you and how much to me, so that we need never quarrel about it.
To be a good surveyor you have to be very careful indeed, and make no mistakes; and George Washington was careful and always tried to do his best, so that his surveys were the finest that could be made.
When he was only sixteen, he went off into the great forest, where no one lived but the Indians, to measure some land for a friend of his. ”

“ In another mining camp, some twenty-three years ago, there was at first no surveyor. Men paced off the boundaries of their claims and went to work as fancy inclined them, and in the town which began to grow up houses were built at random regardless of any street-line and with no finnicking considerations of a building frontage. So a young fellow whose claim was unpromising sent out to civilisation for a set of instruments (he had never seen a transit or a level before) and began business as a surveyor. ”

“ Louis, Missouri—are of special interest even to practiced surveyors, as they treat of special branches of surveying, about which little, if any, mention is ever made in books for the use of students.
What may be called the scientific part of surveying—geodetic surveying—is fully treated and made comprehensible to those whose purpose is not to devote themselves to geodetical work exclusively, but who have, all the same, to be familiar with the scopes and purposes of geodetical measurements, as every engineer and surveyor has to be. ”

“ The selectmen usually walked the north lines only.
When the state domain, almost all dense forest, was first surveyed, the land was laid off in ranges, so-called, and tiers of lots. The various grants of land to persons for public services were also surveyed in a similar manner and the corners and lines established by means of stakes and stones, and of blazed trees. If a large rock happened to lie at the corner of a range or lot, the surveyor sometimes marked it with a drill. Such rocks made the best corners. ”

“ The law defining the duties of the surveyors general has been awarded from time to time, and the system of scaling improved till it has reached its present form, in which it meets with very general approval. ”

“ From the feast of St. Luke to the octave p. 324of St. Martin he is to provide fresh chestnuts, to wit, on feasts of twelve lessons; and on dumpling days he is to find the oil and flour with which to make the dumplings.
“Item, as to the office of surveyor, it is ordered that the surveyor do pay the master builder and also the wages of the day labourers; the lord abbot is to find all the materials requisite for this purpose. Item, the surveyor is to make good any plank or post or nail, and he is to repair any hole in the roofs which can be repaired easily, and any beam or piece of boarding. ”

“ Modern surveyors stand near their instruments, and send their flagmen to a distance; the Egyptian surveyor was one of his own flagmen, and his instruments were towering to the skies on the distant horizon. These mighty tools will last out many a generation of surveyors. ”

“ There was one surveyor who took a professional prize-fighter with him as his assistant, and he found work for him to do besides merely helping him in land-surveying. Bulls were sometimes turned loose in the fields in which surveyors were busy, and they had to leave in a hurry. ”

“ The Secretary of the Interior shall take all the necessary measures for the completion of the surveys in the several surveying districts for which surveyors general have been, or may be, appointed, at the earliest periods compatible with the purposes contemplated by law ”

“ The Act of Queen Anne provided for the appointment of one surveyor to the Post-Office, whose duties it should be to make proper surveys of post-roads. Little more than a hundred years ago, one of these functionaries was sufficient to compass the duty of surveyor in England. There are now thirteen surveyors in the United Kingdom, [149] nine of whom are located in England, two in Ireland, and two in Scotland. These principal officers are assisted in their duties by thirty-two "surveyors' clerks," arranged in two classes, and thirteen stationary clerks. ”

“ That the rules adopted by the courts as to the calls in a grant, giving one call superiority over another, are adopted for the purpose of identifying the actual survey made by the surveyor,-an invariable rule being that the footsteps of the surveyor must be followed, and wherever he established the lines and corners on the ground, there the survey must be located. ”

“ Why, he claimed that valuable strip was his. I contested, of course, but it seems that there was a mix-up in the landmarks. Those by which [27] I went, when I had my survey made, had disappeared, and others which were accepted by the court seemed to indicate that the land was Jallow's. But I know better. I was there at the survey, and saw the marks. The trouble is that I couldn't prove it. My word alone was not enough, and the surveyor, I am sorry to say, is dead. ”

“ But the method to which the term " levelling " is always applied is that of the direct determination of the differences of height from the readings of the lines at which graduated staves, held vertically over the points, are cut by the horizontal plane which passes through the eye of the observer. Each method has its own advantages. The former is less accurate,, but best suited for the requirements of a general geographical survey, to obtain the heights of all the more prominent objects on the surface of the ground, whether accessible or not. ”

“ The surveying of the public lands may be thought by many to be light, easy work, but it is really hard and rough. The surveyors are subjected to much exposure, especially in the winter or rainy season. ”

“ None other than township lines to be run; and surveyor to reside, &c. as the President may direct.
Surveyor’s fees for recording, &c. for surveying the public lands; but no surveyor shall charge for any line except such as may actually run, nor for any line nor necessary to be run. ”

“ Traversing and Fiscal, or Revenue, Surveys Traversing is a combination of linear and angular measures in equal proportions; the surveyor proceeds from point to point, measuring the lines between them and at each point the angle between the back and forward lines; he runs his lines as much as possible over level and open ground, avoiding obstacles by work- ing round them. ”

“ What did the people who lived in a country village see? Long before the navvies came, for years in fact, the coming railway was talked about. The surveyor, with his attendants, carrying theodolite and measuring-chain, as he went about his work "taking levels", was very narrowly watched, and his sayings and doings were noted and discussed, time after time. In fact, not unfrequently the surveyor and his men had some very lively experiences, for there were lots of places in which they were regarded with suspicion, and all sorts of tricks were played upon them. ”

“ It cannot be too strongly insisted on that geographical surveys are functions of both civil and military operations. Very much of such work is also possible where a country lies open to exploration, not actively hostile, "but yet unsettled and adverse to strangers. .The geographical surveyor has to fit himself to all such conditions, and it may happen that a continuous, compre- hensive scheme of triangulation as a map basis is impossible. Under such circumstances other expedients must be adopted to ensure that accuracy of position which cannot be attained by the topographer unaided. ”

“ In the development of our country, the role of the surveyor has been of vital importance. In colonial days, surveyors were among the leaders in the community-statesmen, influential citizens, and shapers of cultural standards, including people such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It was the surveyor's work that determined the boundaries of land, the greatest economic asset in the colonies. ”

“ The surveyor is entitled to the benefit of the principle which is common to all officers charged with the performance of public duties.
Under the grant of governor Coppinger, the lands were surveyed so far as vacant lands were found at the spot designated by the grant; and, when these were exhaused, the surveyor sought, as he was required to do by the terms of the grant, an equivalent elsewhere, and returned his surveys to the proper office, as he was bound to do. The presumption that he did these things, in al. verb., that he did his duty, is the necessary result of the principle. ”

“ Surveying and map making have always been two of the most interesting things a civil engineer has had to do. And, like George Washington, many of the men we look up to today as successes in different lines worked as surveyors in their younger days. Surveying takes one out of doors, and is apt to lead him into the unknown and unexplored byways of the earth.
Though modern surveyors often use precise and expensive instruments, creditable surveys can be made with simple and inexpensive apparatus. ”