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History
 The
rectangular survey system, which was first proposed by Thomas
Jefferson and enacted into law by the Land Ordinance of 1785,
forms the backbone of the Nation's land surveys. As a young
nation, we faced the daunting task of surveying over 1.8 billion
acres of public domain lands acquired through the Louisiana
Purchase, the Alaska Purchase, and other acquisition actions.
Contract surveyors chosen through competitive bidding were
eventually replaced with today's professional cadre of Cadastral
Surveyors.
Over the past two centuries, almost 1.5 billion acres have
been surveyed into townships and sections and monumented.
This impressive accomplishment represents the greatest land
surveying project ever undertaken: there are about 2.6 million
section corners throughout the United States, each one located
about a mile apart. Placing these corners required a vast
expenditure of human energy in carrying heavy surveying equipment,
dragging chains, cutting trails, climbing mountains, placing
monuments, digging pits, and blazing "witness" trees.
Today, the BLM is the Federal Government's official record
keeper for over 200 years' worth of cadastral survey records
and plats. In addition, the Bureau is still completing numerous
new surveys each year, mostly in Alaska, as well as conducting
resurveys to restore obliterated or lost original survey corners,
to enhance the management of all federal and tribal land.
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