GENERAL LAND OFFICE (GLO) AUTOMATED RECORDS:
Since 1989, Eastern States has been protecting and automating the historic land patent documents for the Secretary of the Interior. As the successor agency to the original General Land Office (GLO), we maintain more than nine million historic land documents— survey plats and field notes, homestead patents, military warrants, and railroad grants. These historic documents were among the very first land records to result from theLand Ordinance of 1785, which authorized the transfer of public lands to private individuals. Even today, these records are valuable resources for natural resource agencies, historians, title companies and genealogists.
Many of the documents are now computerized and are accessible via the Internet through the GLO Records Web site located at www.glorecords.blm.gov. Over 4.2 million land patent records from across the United States are now online, and 3 million have been imaged for the 30 public land states. Project completion of the remaining 2 million records is expected in about 5 years. Through this valuable Web site, field employees can easily check land ownership status from their desks and genealogists can trace family histories through land ownership. The Web site has been accessed more than 6,752,000 times (as of October, 2005) since its inception, making it one of the most popular Web sites in the Department of the Interior.
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