by KARL S. LANDSTROM, Lands Officer, BLM

lorida was claimed by Spain by discovery and

Fexploration.

Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain in 1736, but in 1783, after the conclusion of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, Florida was ceded back to Spain. The boundaries of Florida were in dispute between Spain and the United States.

President James Madison issued a proclamation in 1810 taking possession of the east bank of the Mississippi River under the authority of the treaty of purchase with France. The proclamation left the question of ownership for future settlement. After a series of incidents, John Quincy Adams for the United States and Don Luis de Onis for Spain signed a treaty of cession of Florida to the United States in 1819.

The Florida purchase cost the United States $6,674,057 for 46,144,640 acres of public domainabout 14 cents an acre.

The Northwest Territory was established as part of the United States by the treaty with Great Britain in 1846.

Long before the purchase of Louisiana, the interests of the United States had been directed toward the unknown interior country west of the Mississippi. Several overland journeys were begun, but none was brought to a conclusion.

The northwestern coasts had been visited by ships of several countries. Capt. Robert Gray, an American, discovered the mouth of the Columbia River and sailed many miles upstream.

The American claim to "Oregon Territory" was based upon Captain Gray's discovery and later expeditions by land and water.

President Jefferson asked the Congress in 1803 to appropriate $2,500,000 for an overland expedition, which was begun the next year by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Furtherance of the American claim was the prime motive of the expedition. Exploration of the newly purchased Louisiana Territory was also an objective.

The Lewis and Clark expedition began by water from the mouth of Wood River on the Illinois bank of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Missouri River. The party reached an Indian village at Mandan by October 26. There, on the

north bank of the Missouri, a f Mandan, was erected.

The route followed in 1805 pas lofty Bitter Root Range, down River to its junction with the S down the Snake to the Columbia Clark wrote that on November 7 for the first time "the object of al reward of all our anxieties," the Pacific Ocean.

After the winter of 1805–1806 the party arrived at St. Louis or 1806.

The report, "Brief Account of Clark Expedition," published in issued by the Bureau of Land Ma acterizes it as influencing grea political acts that affected the o Oregon Territory.

Russia at that time had an un territory in what is now Alaska 1824, the United States reco sovereignty over the northwestern tude 54°40′ north to the North Po ain later confirmed with Russia b that Russian sovereignty exten from latitude 54°40'. The east Russian sovereignty was defined ain as the present eastern line of

Sovereignty over the land so 54°40′ was hotly disputed by th and Great Britain. Disputed ter pied by both countries.

The northern boundary of th was placed by treaty in 1846 at t extended to the middle of a chann Vancouver Island from the m southerly along the center of the the Strait of San Juan de Fuc Ocean. The exact location of ferred to was in dispute from 18 exact location was determined in I, Emperor of Germany, who was out appeal, agreed upon by the

The Oregon Compromise establ acres as public domain of the Un payment of moneys was involved.

Texas, annexed in 1845, was originally included in French and Spanish possessions. The treaty of purchase of Florida contained recognition by the United States of the present eastern boundary of Texas as the eastern boundary of Spanish possessions.

Mexico obtained her independence from Spain in 1821.

Secretary of State Martin Van Buren in 1829 instructed the United States Minister to Mexico to offer to buy the part of Texas east of the Mueces River. Mexico refused. The Republic of Texas was proclaimed in 1836 and was recognized by the United States in 1837.

Admission of Texas to the United States was soon urged. It became a political issue. A joint resolution for annexation was adopted by the Congress and was signed by President John Tyler in 1845.

The State of Texas succeeded to the ownership of all lands of the former Republic east of the Rio Grande that were included in a region bounded on the east by the Spanish-American boundary as established under the Florida treaty of 1819. These boundaries had been confirmed by a treaty with Mexico in 1828, but they were indefinite. Persons living at Santa Fe, in what is now New Mexico, denied that they were within the State of Texas.

During the Mexican War in 1847, General Stephen W. Kearney, under War Department orders, captured the Mexican province of New Mexico. As military governor, he published a series of laws for the government of the province.

An organic law for the government of the Territory of New Mexico was enacted after 3 years of military government. The law defined the eastern boundary of the Territory at the present eastern line of New Mexico, reducing thus the extent of the claim of Texas. By the act of September 9, 1850, the United States proposed the purchase from the State of Texas of its claim to lands north of latitude 36°30′ and west of the 100th meridian and those north of latitude 32° and west of the 103d meridian. The State accepted, and the purchased property became public domain of the United States.

The lands added by this purchase consisted of 78,926,720 acres of land and water surface, costing $15,496,448, or approximately 20 cents an These lands are now parts of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

acre.

The Pacific Southwest, especially the coast of California, was early a matter of jealous attention by several rival countries.

Russians occupied a part of the California coast in 1812 by permission of Spain. A military governor was in command.

President Andrew Jackson proposed in 1835 to Mexico that the Pacific Southwest be sold to the United States. Negotiations failed. John Charles Fremont's overland expedition and Charles Wilkes' voyage under auspices of the

United States added information about this area.

After the terms of the Texas annexation had been accepted by the Republic of Texas, President James K. Polk in 1845 ordered the United States Army to occupy and hold the western part of the Texas claim. Steps were taken to offer to the Mexican Government terms for the acquisition of the disputed western Texas Territory and lands to the west, including the bay and harbor of San Francisco.

War was declared with Mexico on May 13, 1846. After repeated failure of negotiations and resumption of hostilities, a treaty was completed by Commissioner Nicholas P. Trist, on behalf of the United States, at the city of Gaudalupe Hidalgo, Mexico, on February 2, 1848. President Polk proclaimed the treaty on July 4, 1848.

This action resulted in recognition of the western boundaries of Texas and added to the public domain the lands bounded on the east by the Rio Grande River and a meridian extending north, on the north by the 42d parallel, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the south by the national boundary established by the treaty. The area of public domain acquired was given by the Federal Interagency Committee in 1912 as 338,680,960 acres. The cost was $16,295,149, or approximately 5 cents an acre.

The Gadsden Purchase was completed in 1853 when Franklin Pierce was President.

James Gadsden, the United States Minister to Mexico, entered into the treaty of purchase on behalf of the United States for the purpose of defining more correctly the boundary and making a more regular line between the United States and Mexico.

The boundaries given were the Gila River on the north, the Rio Grande on the east, and a point. 20 miles below the mouth of the Gila River, on the Colorado River, on the west. The area of public domain added was 18,988,800 acres (land) and water surface). The cost was $10 million, or approximately 53 cents an acre.

Three parcels of territory, now securely parts of the United States, had been collectively omitted by the various formal treaties of cession or purchase.

One of these areas is what is now western Louisiana, west of the Mississippi River drainage. It was relinquished by Spain in 1819.

Another is an extensive area in Minnesota and the Dakotas. It drains northward through the Red River. It was relinquished by Britain in 1818.

The third area is in central Colorado. It was not included in the Louisiana or Texas Purchases but was covered by a treaty with the Ute Indians in 1868.

The total of original public domain acquired in continental United States from 1781 to 1867 was given by the Federal Interagency Committee in 1912 as 1,462,466,560 acres (land and water area). The aggregate cost was $77,879,222, or approximately 5 cents an acre.

(To be continued)

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHYMODERN SURVEY TOOL

IONEERS and settlers who opened the vast wilderness which was the United States were often accompanied or preceded by the cadastral (public land) surveyors. Before public land could be taken up by private owners it had to be laid out in the rectangular township and section pattern which is familiar to air travelers across the Middle and Far West.

As settlement moved across the United States public lands in demand for farms and homes, and industrial and commercial development were generally surveyed first. Often this meant only readily accessible lands were surveyed. The remaining unsurveyed lands are now usually in remote areas with deep canyons or steep mountains. Or in Alaska where short seasons and difficult access combine with rugged topography to slow down the work.

Completion of the public land surveys presents an enormous challenge to the cadastral surveyors of today. Personal injuries in hazardous field work have brought into focus the need for developing techniques to reduce the amount of field work necessary. Costs have risen sharply. At times only the exterior boundaries of townships and school sections are being surveyed. Yet in its search for economical procedures, the Bureau of Land Management is bound by the high standards of reliability which its surveys have maintained in the past.

Promising developments, however, have recently arisen in the field of photography. Cheaper, faster, less hazardous, yet still accurate surveys are already being made by the Bureau using new photographic techniques. The application of photography to surveying or mapmaking is known as the science of photogrammetry.

Photography and surveying have not in the past been thought of together. But they are not as unrelated as one might think. one might think. Directions (which along with distances form the basic components of any survey) have traditionally been determined with a transit. A transit measures angles by comparing lines of sight with a fixed reference or known direction. We do the same thing mentally when we estimate directions, but a transit does it far more accurately in terms of degrees, minutes, and seconds.

The distance or angle bet weer objects can also be measured on by setting up a simple geomet using the distance the two points: negative and the known focal len era, along with the altitude from ture was taken. If a camera is u it is a surveying instrument just

Just as the transit is only cap ing angles, the camera also only Distances must be measured on tape, chain, rod, bar, or more rec light waves. In practice, the the of transit) permits more accurat than the camera and it also prov relating directions to north. The initially on the ground to provi framework for aerial surveys.

As you might imagine there vantages to using photographs One exposure of a negative provi the measurement of many angles. these measurements can be made in bad weather does not interfere Costs of field work, motor vehicl equipment can be avoided.

In the case of aerial photogra station is located high enough al to give an unobstructed view of surveyed. (Photographs taken f may also be valuable, but the limited.)

There are difficulties encounter cation of aerial photography Clouds, poor light, dense timber and snow all hinder aerial phot ever, these frequently can be ove the photographs at the right time is better not to to use photogra wooded areas.

The scale of an aerial photog stant. It would be if the porti photographed were exactly flat, exactly vertical, and the lenses f tion. In that case the scale wo of the camera focal length to tl camera above the ground.

with so-called small tracts-a pr which it is possible for people to certain small plots of Federal land able for residence, recreation, or These aren't "homesteads" the Bu sizes, and they are not "free." T leased or sold at fair market values, petitive bidding. The lands are u only in the 12 far-western States.

The only lands made available to areas of the public domain, (excep tional forests, national parks, wildl certain other reservations) where B ined and classified the lands specific tracts. The Bulletin explains v when lands are classified for sma notices are published in the Federa nouncing openings, and how people applying or bidding for lands opene

The new booklet also contains a : often-asked questions and answer tracts, along with the complete re which a person must comply.