DIVIDING THE LAND

Background - After Spain ceded the Florida Territory to the United States in 1821, there was a great demand for land in the new territory. As a result, one of the first actions of the U.S. government was to begin a survey to subdivide the new territory into sellable tracts to encourage settlement. Accordingly, President James Monroe appointed Colonel Robert Butler to direct that survey. Colonel Butler began that effort by selecting an initial point for the survey about a quarter mile southeast of the current capitol building in Tallahassee. Setting a lightwood post at that point, he witnessed it with reference bearings and distances to four nearby trees as recorded in the original field notes.

Original field notes for establishment
of the initial point for the public
lands survey of Florida

Colonel Butler then appointed Deputy Surveyor C.C. Stone to survey a principal basis parallel, known as the Tallahassee Baseline, easterly from that point to the Atlantic Ocean. The Tallahassee Baseline crossed the Aucilla River just south of the current location of the Interstate Highway 10 bridge over the River. Butler also appointed deputy surveyors to run a base parallel west to the Perdido River and base meridians north to Georgia and south to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Survey Process – Those baselines, run with a compass and chain, served as the basis for the subdivision of the new territory using a rectangular survey system originally devised by Thomas Jefferson. That plan divided the territory into six-mile square townships and further subdivision of each township into 36 one-mile square sections, each containing approximately 640 acres. In the course of the survey, scribed markers (typically lighter wood posts) were set at half mile intervals along the section lines with reference measurements to nearby trees.

Typical U.S. Public Land Township Plat of an area along the Aucilla

Advantages of the Rectangular Survey Process - The survey was designed to accomplish two objectives. The first was to create maps showing available parcels and their location relative to various features such as rivers, lakes, roads, existing use of the land and other features that might be considered in the selection of land by purchasers.
As may be seen, the process located water bodies, roads or trails and other notable features encountered in the survey. In addition, it identified and mapped any signs of settlement. Under the terms of the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 (that resulted in the cession of Florida to the United States in 1821) Spanish grants made prior to the date of the treaty were recognized by a formal process. In addition, claims by settlers who had informally occupied and cultivated land prior to the date of the treaty, were also recognized. As a result, one important function of the Public Land Survey in Florida was to identify such lands. Thus, the survey facilitated the sale of land in the newly acquired territory by allowing prospective purchasers to select available land best meeting their needs.
The second objective was to create a unique description of each parcel for use in land transactions. To facilitate the latter, the naming of the townships was set up to allow identification of the location of each township.

Township Identification Plan

Then, each of the thirty six sections within each township were laid out in a standard format.

Section Identification Plan (within each township)

As a result, any section of land included in the survey of the territory could, and can still today, be identified by a unique identifier for use with deeds or other land transactions. As an example, a section of land identified as Section 4, Township 1 South, Range 6 East could be precisely located on the ground by a competent surveyor. Further, since many purchasers were interested in parcels of land smaller than 640 acres, each section could be further divided into quarter sections or even smaller fractional portions that may be identified with a description such as the northeast one quarter of Section 4, Township 1 South, Range 6 East.

Impact of the Survey – The impact of the public land survey was immediate in the area around the Aucilla River which were some of the first lands surveyed. It resulted in a land rush when the land office opened in Tallahassee in 1825, holding land auctions for lands that had been surveyed. Prospective settlers or land speculators reportedly would spend days prior to the auction scouring the land, comparing copies of the survey plats with the terrain. The bidding for the land would typically begin at a price of $1.25 per acre, although some of the land sold at three to four dollars per acre. One of the earliest purchasers was James Gadsden who had acquired some property when he settled prior to 1819, but who also purchased land in an auction at the minimum price on which he established a plantation named Wacissa.
The public land survey also had other impacts since the surveys represented the first detailed maps of the region and of the Aucilla River itself. As an example, local settlers were able to better see the configuration of the Aucilla and its tributaries. They could see which portions of the river connected to the Gulf of Mexico. Further, they could see that the Wacissa River connected to the Aucilla (and ultimately the Gulf) through a tributary which is now called the Wacissa Slave Canal. That fact stimulated interest in improving the “Canal”.
Even today, almost 200 years after the survey, the Public Land Survey continues to have an impact on land use. Almost every parcel of land in the state is described in terms of the Public Land Survey sections, by measurements from a corner established in that survey, or in a platted subdivision based on ties to a such a corner. Further, the survey forms the basis for land data information systems which are used for land registration, taxation, planning and zoning, emergency planning and many other public and private functions.