SKETCH OF MODERN AGRICULTURE 77 



southeast corner of the quarter section just described, it would be 

 done after this manner : S. E. Qr. of the N. W. Qr. of Sec. 6, etc. 



This system of surveys and of enumeration is probably of 

 Roman origin, in some of its features at least, and is a model 

 of simplicity and brevity. It was elaborated and adapted to 

 American needs either by Thomas Jefferson or Albeit Gallatin, 

 it is uncertain which. The task of surveying such a vast expanse 

 of territory, of recording the surveys, of keeping a record of 

 sales, of entries and final proofs, and of issuing patents, was a 

 work of great magnitude. It was at first performed under the 

 supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury. In order to 

 organize the work of surveying, the office of Surveyor General 

 was created in 1796 and General Putnam was appointed Sur- 

 veyor General of the Northwest Territory. In 1810 district 

 land offices were established in the Northwest Territory, and 

 the Surveyor General transmitted plans of the survey to these 

 land offices instead of to the Secretary of the Treasury, as he 

 had done before. In 1812 the General Land Office was estab- 

 lished under a commissioner who took immediate charge of the 

 public-land system, though still under the general supervision 

 of the Treasury Department. This condition lasted until the 

 creation of the Department of the Interior in 1849, since 

 which time the General Land Office has remained under this 

 department. 



Allodial tenure. The famous Ordinance of 1787 related 

 rather to the government of the territory ceded to the federal 

 government by the several states than to the disposal of the 

 public lands. It provided, however, for a popular form of land 

 tenure, and this is at least of as great importance as the better- 

 known provisions against slavery and for a republican form of 

 government, concerning which so much has been written. The 

 form of land tenure was to be allodial rather than feudal, the 

 land was to be held in fee simple, was to be freely transferable 



