CHAPTER 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE FEDERAL LAND RECORD SYSTEMS
| Jurisdiction | United States |
(May 1971)
DESCRIPTION OF THE FEDERAL LAND RECORD SYSTEMS
VICE PRESIDENT—MINERAL ACQUISITION DUVAL CORPORATION
TUCSON, ARIZONA 85712
In Two Parts
Part One: Ben G. Messer, Vice President-Mineral Acquisition, Duval Corporation, Tucson, Arizona
Description of the basic land records available to the general public for examination with some interpretive or other remarks concerning such records.
OUTLINE
I. Introduction
Some basic history for record keeping.
II. Land Survey Records — Cadastral Plats
GLO or General Land Office Plats.
Mineral Surveys and Plats.
Miscellaneous Surveys.
III. Land Status and Use Records
Master Title (MT) Plats.
Use Plats — Related Plats.
Historical Index.
IV. Basic Land Records
Control Document Index.
Serial Register — Case Files.
Tract Book.
Land Office Status Plat.
V. Miscellaneous Services and Remarks
Part Two: Boyd Cox, Management Analyst, Division of Management Analysis, Bureau of Land Management, Portland, Oregon
Description and Progress Report of the new "Land and Survey Records—Record Preservation and Service through Microfilm" based on the Bureau of Land Management pamphlet with the same name. Some slides will be used in connection with this presentation.
TABLE OF CITED EXHIBITS
Exhibit A—Bureau of Land Management State Offices 2-25
Exhibit B—Historical Index Sample Township Plat (MT)—Idaho 2-26
Exhibit C—Legend of Abbreviations and Symbols on New Records 2-27
Exhibit D—Historical Index—Nevada 2-28
Exhibit E—Serial Register Page 2-29
TABLE OF MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES
Miscellaneous Example 1 —Sample Township Plat (MT)—Oregon 2-31
Miscellaneous Example 2 —List of Abbreviations and Symbols on New Records—Oregon 2-32
Miscellaneous Example 3 —MT Plat—Colorado 2-33
Miscellaneous Example 4 —List of Abbreviations and Symbols on New Records—Colorado 2-34
Miscellaneous Example 5 —Fragmented Public Land with Mining Claims—Colorado 2-35
Miscellaneous Example 6 —MT Plat—Nevada 2-36
Miscellaneous Example 7 —List of Abbreviations and Symbols on MT Plats of New Records—Nevada 2-37
Miscellaneous Example 8 —MT Plat—Oregon 2-38
Miscellaneous Example 9 —MT Plat—Oregon 2-39
Miscellaneous Example 10—MT Plat—Oregon 2-40
Miscellaneous Example 11—MTP—Suppl.—Oregon 2-41
Miscellaneous Example 12—Status Sheet 2-42
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I. Introduction
The primary purpose of this paper is to acquaint and inform persons who are principally interested in the status of mineral rights or related surface rights or orders on lands administered by the Federal Government of pertinent records available in the State Offices of the Bureau of Land Management and to describe these land status records. It has been the writer's experience that after having selected an area for mineral study, mining claim location, or acquisition of mineral rights, they do not know where or how to look for data that will guide them further. The Bureau of Land Management today has on file all past land records on the lands known as the public domain. The old records have been preserved, new ones are kept current, and all are available to the public for study in public record rooms during the hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on working days.
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Before describing any types of land records available today, lets take a brief look into the historical background for the need and development of the records. Federal lands or the public domain includes lands acquired by the United States through treaties, purchases, and cessions by the original states. The history of the public domain is a story of the expansion of the United States. This expansion required the identification of lands and a system of title recordkeeping.
The Continental Congress set up a rectangular survey system for the public domain in 1785. The first patent was issued in 1788. The General Land Office was established in 1812 to keep land records and record titles. Subsequently, land and survey offices were established in all of the States and Territories, originally part of the public domain, to administer the public domain. This administration was largely limited to surveying, processing mining claims, and land transfers and to record the same. In 1934, Congress set up the Grazing Service. The Bureau of Land Management was formed in 1946 out of the General Land Office.
Surveying and Record Keeping is now the responsibility of the Bureau of Land Management, as an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. There are currently twelve Bureau of Land Management Land Offices, preferably now called
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State Offices, located in twelve western states which administer lands in eighteen western states. In addition, because of the large areas involved, there are two District Offices in Alaska and California which have nearly the same responsibilities. There is also an office in Maryland which services all other states (Exhibit A lists these offices). These State Land Offices have from one to ten outlaying District Offices in areas of the highest concentration of public domain or of activities in connection with these lands such as grazing or timber leasing and mineral exploration. Through the years of expansion and settlement, records of survey of over seven million ownership titles on over one and one-half billion acres of land have been kept. Most of the remaining public lands, exclusive of those set aside for national forests and parks, lie within eleven of our western states and cover some 453 million acres—about one-fifth the area of the United States. There are over 62.5 million acres patented lands with minerals reserved to the United States.
The Land Offices referred to have or have access to complete and current status records on surveyed lands within the area under their jurisdiction.
Basically, the Federal Land Record systems consist of Land Survey Records, Land Status and Use Records, and Basic Land Records, which will include indexes, case files, serial records, and other records relative to each category.
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II. Land Survey Records — Cadastral Plats
As early as 1634, early settlers in this country, namely the Massachusetts Colony, recognized the need for an orderly and efficient system for settlement and made small land grants called "towns". These towns were all about six miles square which became the standard for townships. In 1785, Congress adopted the township as the basic unit for a rectangular survey system for the public domain, now identified by title as Townships and Ranges located numerically and directionally from established base and meridian lines. For example: Township 18 North, Range 12 East, Gila and Salt River Meridian (G & SRM), Pima County, State of Arizona. Townships always lie north or south and Ranges east or west of their base or meridian lines.
Until 1910, public lands were surveyed by private contractors through the Office of the Surveyor General. Since that year, Federal agencies have made the surveys. The official record of a survey consists of the...
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