Sections are numbered, and can be systematically ubdivided into quarters and smaller rectangles acording to an established pattern. Thus the same sort of descriptions can be used and understood throughout he rectangular survey states, whether the lands involved are half-township blocks in Alaska or residenial tracts of 114 acres in California, or even cemetery ots in Arizona.

The Job Goes On

Even today much of the early land acquisitions remain unsurveyed. High mountain slopes and remote and inaccessible wilderness areas in some of the Western States are just now being surveyed for the first ime. In Alaska, only a small fraction of the total and area has been surveyed, but the job goes on as rapidly as funds and the real handicap of a short working season permit.

Helicopters are used today to transport men and equipment across rugged canyons and almost impenetrable orests. All that is needed is a small clearing for the

Surveying equipment and methods have changed immensely since the first crude and inaccurate surveys of public lands in 1786.

Survey parties once lived off the land, traveling by foot, horseback, wagon, and canoe to reach the lands beyond the frontier of civilization. Colorful accounts of the travels of these early explorers still exist as footnotes to the field surveys recorded in the Bureau of Land Management's files, recounting tales of quiet heroism as lonely parties worked their way across prairies and deserts, snow-covered mountains and alkali flats.

Once the surveyor's task was a dawn-to-dusk affair, with little comfort in his meager supplies of salt, salt pork, beans and a barrel of whiskey. Hazards included hostile Indians, extremes of heat and cold, and unpredictable supplies of food and water. The Government land surveyor of a century ago was a true

helicopter to land. However, the surveyors still must descend into valleys to place the monuments that mark their corners.

pioneer of the Old West, and many an unmarked grave holds mute testimony to the challenge of his work.

Today the cadastral engineer faces different problems, and he meets the challenges of his job with the most modern equipment available. Leapfrogging from point to point by helicopter, he crosses valleys and peaks in minutes where earlier surveyors would have struggled for days. Instead of laboriously measuring vast distances with handheld chains, he can use the most modern electronic ranging devices to read distances. Aerial photographs and theodolites make his work easier and more accurate.

Much of the modern cadastral surveyor's work involves relocation of lost or obliterated corners. Old corners were marked with wooden poles in many cases, and the ravages of time have caused many to be lost. Today the Bureau uses metal markers, and is experimenting with radioactive tracers for easier location.

The Bureau's land records tell the story of the westward expansion of our Nation. But more than just a historical record, these documents are used every day in the Bureau's land offices and in Washington, D.C. Dating back to 1800, the records include some 6,000 volumes of survey notes and 135,000 township plats.

The records provide the only official basic survey and plat record upon which all original patents were granted by the United States, and are the basic records for all later public and private property transactions in most of the States.

In 1785 on the banks of the Ohio River in what was then the Northwest Territory, a surveyor named Absolem Martin peered through the peepsites of his primitive alidade as he began the Nation's first public land survey. In 1962 on a lonely peak in southeastern Utah, another surveyor peered at the dials on a radarlike instrument and spoke into a microphone. Sepa-T rated by 176 years of population expansion and technological progress, they were both devoted to a common task-surveying our public lands.

A survey party in Wyoming pauses along the trail. This crew was employed by the General Land Office in 1920.

Many areas hold particular value to local commu nities, whose need for parks, campsites, and picnic facilities can best be answered by lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. And these lands are available for sale or lease to local governments, at a low price.

Under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act of 1926, with later amendments, the Bureau can sell lands to local governments for $2.50 an acre, or lease them for 25 cents a year. To qualify, the State, county, or municipal government must present a proposal for the development of the area, explaining how the land will be used and what local effort is planned to make the area of more benefit to the public. Many are taking advantage of this opportunity to make more recreational facilities available to their citizens.