On Land Surveys in the United States. 1 3 1 



Abt. XV. — Remarks upon the present mode of conducting Land 

 Surveys in the United States; by Edwin F. Johnson. 



The continent of America, previously to its discovery and settle- 

 ment by the Europeans, was in the possession of a people, uncivilized 

 in their character, wandering in their habits, and depending for a 

 subsistence upon such precarious means as the lakes and streams 

 or forest, from day to day afforded. Fixed habitations and separate 

 individual proprietorships in land were consequently unknown, and 

 territorial divisions were not acknowledged, except in respect to 

 the hunting grounds of the several tribes, which were defined by 

 such boundaries as nature had formed in the various ranges of hills, 

 or courses of the different streams which in every direction spread 

 over and diversified the general face of the country. 



When therefore the emigrants from the east seated themselves 

 on these shores, a new order of things was established. Bringing 

 with them as they did, the habits, customs, &ic. of the civilized na- 

 tions of Europe, they found it necessary to institute a system of sep- 

 arate and distinct individual titles in land. The first settlements were 

 made principally upon the rich bottoms contiguous to the mouths of 

 the larger rivers, and the portions taken by the settlers were gener- 

 ally selected according to the kind and quality of the soil and tim- 

 ber, without regard to any regular or systematic mode of allotment. 



In many instances by a mutual understanding, tracts of a given 

 width, measured along the margin of the bay or river, were assigned 

 to each occupant, extending back to an indefinite distance into the 

 interior ; the positions of the dividing lines being a matter of com- 

 promise or arbitration, in which the parties were aided by such im- 

 perfect instruments as were used in guiding their vessels across the 

 Atlantic. In process of time the settlements thus formed, were view- 

 ed by the mother country as likely to constitute important appenda- 

 ges to her dominions. This consideration, in connection perhaps 

 in some instances with the solicitations of the settlers themselves, 

 induced her to extend over them her government and laws. 



From this period the right of soil may be considered as exercised 

 in full force by the crown, except in particular cases where respect 

 was paid to the long enjoyed possessions of the settlers. The lands 

 were no longer taken up at the option of individuals, in such places 

 and to such an extent as they thought proper, but were the subject 



