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Stock# 95117

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General Land Office

Title

Map of Public Surveys in California to Accompany Report of Surveyor Genl. 1855

Publication Place / Date

Washington D.C. / 1855

Image Dimensions

31.5 x 36 inches

Color

Uncolored

Condition

Stock# 95117

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Description

The Second Official General Land Office Map of California and the First Oriented with North at the Top

Nice example of one of the earliest obtainable official maps of California, published by the General Land Office.

Beginning in 1854, the United States General Land Office began publishing an annual "Map of the Public Surveys." The first edition of the map was oriented with east at the top, with subsequent editions beginning in 1855 oriented with north at the top. Beginning in 1863, the map was expanded to include California and Nevada, with the size remaining the same.

Signed by John Coffey Hays, the US Surveyor General for California, this series of maps would track the progress of the US Government Surveys in California, as well as recording the private land grants (Mexican Ranchos) which had been confirmed through the judicial process established following the United States annexation of California from Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

This 1855 edition is the final edition of the map to pre-date the completion of the confirmation of the first of Rancho Surveys (called private land grants on the map, beginning in 1856. The 1856 map would show 4 confirmed land grants:

Las Mariposas (John C. Fremont)
Suisun
Canada del Rinconen el Rio San Lorenzo de Santa Cruz
San Buenaventura

Condition Description

Trimmed at left, lacking neat line.

General Land Office Biography

The General Land Office (GLO) refers to the independent agency in the United States that was in charge of public domain lands. Created in 1812, it assumed the responsibilities for public domain lands from the United States Department of the Treasury. The Treasury had overseen the survey of the Northwest Territory, but as more area was added to the United States, a new agency was necessary to survey the new lands.

Eventually, the GLO would be responsible for the surveying, platting, and sale of the majority of the land west of the Mississippi, with the exception of Texas. When the Secretary of the Interior was created in 1849, the GLO was placed under its authority. Until the creation of the Forest Service in 1905, the GLO also managed forest lands that had been removed from public domain. In additional to managing the fees and sales of land, the GLO produced maps and plans of the areas and plots they surveyed. In 1946, the GLO merged with the United States Grazing Service to become the Bureau of Land Management.