1856 Sketch of Public Surveys in the State of Iowa
DESCRIPTION
This detailed government survey map captures Iowa only a decade after statehood, as federal surveyors neared completion of the enormous task of measuring and dividing the state for settlement and development.
Prepared under Surveyor General Warner Lewis in 1856, the map covers Iowa with the township and range grid of the federal public land survey. Individual markings indicate the status of the surveying work, while rivers, lakes, towns and other geographic features place the increasingly orderly grid within Iowa's natural landscape.
Completing the Survey of Iowa
By the mid 1850s, most of Iowa had already been surveyed, with unfinished work concentrated primarily in the northwestern part of the state. The contrast is clearly visible on the map and documents how rapidly the federal land system had advanced across Iowa. Communities including Dubuque, Davenport, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Fort Des Moines appear within the grid, illustrating the growth of settlements as surveyed lands became available for purchase and development. A surviving 1855 issue shows essentially the same pattern, with most survey work completed or underway except in the northwest.
The map appeared during a period of extraordinary population growth. Iowa had entered the Union in 1846, and the public survey system provided the legal framework for converting former federal lands into farms, towns and transportation corridors. Each township measured six miles square and was ultimately divided into sections, creating the familiar geometric pattern that continues to shape Iowa's roads, farms and property boundaries. This 1856 map therefore records more than surveying progress. It captures the physical framework upon which much of modern Iowa was being built.
CONDITION
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