HARLEY R. SCHNEIDER:
An Inventory of His Research Files on Minnesota Surveys at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Schneider, Harley R., 1909-2008, compiler. | |
| Title: | Research file on Minnesota surveys. | |
| Dates: | 1929, 1974-1998. | |
| Abstract: | Correspondence (1975-1998), conference papers (1974-1974, 1995), copies of U.S. General Land Office documents (1841-1862), and related material compiled by a civil engineer pertaining to his research about the 1852 survey of the Iowa-Minnesota boundary line, an 1858 resurvey, the public lands survey of Minnesota, and the location of one of the latitude observation stations established during the Iowa-Minnesota boundary survey. | |
| Quantity: | 1.0 cubic feet (2 boxes) and 1 microfilm reel, 16 mm. | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description section for shelf locations. |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Harley R. Schneider was born in New Ulm in 1909 and graduated from the civil engineering program at the University of Minnesota. Schneider worked as an engineering supervisor for the Work Projects Administration in Brown County from 1935 to 1942. Between 1943 and 1945 Schneider worked on the modification of B-24 airplanes for Northwest Airlines at the St. Paul Modification Center where he was promoted to materials control supervisor. Following the shut down of war work Schneider returned to New Ulm and became the city engineer, a post he held until he retired in 1975. During his long tenure as New Ulm city engineer Schneider became an active member of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers, the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors, the City and Village Engineers Association of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Association of County Engineers. He was particularly active in the local chapters of both the state surveyors and engineers societies.
After he retired as New Ulm city engineer, Schneider worked as a surveyor for Brown County and also as a consultant for the engineering firm of Bolton & Menk in Mankato, Minnesota. He also volunteered as the historian for both the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers and the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors. Schneider started researching archival documents originating from the public land survey of Minnesota prior to his retirement and continued that work well into the latter part of the 1990s. He intended to compile the instructions issued to Minnesota public lands surveyors in an effort to provide the historical background necessary for later surveys. Progress on his research was often noted in his reports as historian of the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
Included are photocopies from the National Archives of field notes pertaining to the survey of Minnesota's western boundary; copies from the State Historical Society of Iowa of instructions, reports, field notes, astronomical observations, letters, plat maps, and contracts kept by the U.S. Surveyor General of Wisconsin and Iowa pertaining to the Iowa-Minnesota boundary survey and the Minnesota public lands survey; and a photocopy from the Huntington Library of the "Instructions to the Surveyor General of Oregon" issued by the commissioner of the General Land Office in 1851.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Schneider, Harley R. Research File on Minnesota Surveys. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession numbers: 13,799; 14,995; 15,472; 16,698
Processing Information:
Processed by: Monica Manny Ralston, February 2002; additions by David B. Peterson, February 2013
Catalog ID number: 990017305160104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| P2494 | 1 | Correspondence, 1975-1998. 4 folders. | |||||||||
| Includes Schneider's outgoing and incoming correspondence pertaining to his research on Minnesota surveys. Correspondents include Mark J. Barnes, acting archivist for the State Archives of Iowa; editors of the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors newsletter; C. Allen Ringquist, a civil engineer and land surveyor from Jackson, Minnesota; Larry G. Bartleman, Iowa Department of Natural Resources; and Neil K. Brown, a retired land surveyor from Estherville, Iowa. Much of the correspondence between Schneider, Brown, and Bartleman concerns the location of Astronomical Station Madison, one of the latitude observation stations used in the 1852 survey of the Iowa-Minnesota boundary line. Brown's letters include reminiscences from his survey of the boundary line in 1938-1939 and his rediscovery of the station's remains in 1971. | |||||||||||
| Dodds' book: References, 1980. | |||||||||||
| Includes typed transcripts of documents referenced in the book, Original Instructions Governing Public Land Surveys of Iowa: A Guide to Their Use in Resurveys of Public Lands, edited by John Simpson Dodds and published in 1943 by the Iowa Engineering Society. | |||||||||||
| Minnesota Public Land Surveyors, 1974-1975. | |||||||||||
| Three maps of Minnesota compiled by Ronald Olson and Robert D. Sales that show the names of deputy surveyors responsible for surveying the North-South township lines, the East-West township lines, and the township subdivisions. | |||||||||||
| Papers presented at Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors conferences, 1975, 1978, 1995. | |||||||||||
| Includes papers presented by Schneider and one presented by Ron Murphy. The presentation that Schneider made in 1978 consisted of an inventory of General Land Office records concerning Minnesota that were in the custody of the Iowa Secretary of State. Those records were since transferred to the State Historical Society of Iowa and Schneider annotated his paper to indicate the location of materials at the Iowa State Historical Society. | |||||||||||
| "Survey of the Iowa-Minnesota Boundary Line," 1929, 1987. | |||||||||||
| Original article in the January 1929 issue of Annals of Iowa and a reprint of that article in the winter 1987 issue of the Minnesota Land Surveyors Association journal Dis-Closures. The article consisted of transcripts of letters containing instructions issued to the Surveyor General of Wisconsin and Iowa from the commissioner of the General Land Office, instructions issued to the chief engineer from the surveyor general, and instructions issued to deputy surveyors from the chief engineer. | |||||||||||
| Instructions to the Surveyor General of Oregon; being a Manual for Field Operations, 1851. | |||||||||||
| Copied from an original held by the Huntington Library. | |||||||||||
| U.S. General Land Office. Surveying Division. "Old Case F File" Field Notes: | |||||||||||
| Copied from the originals held by the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 49, Records of the General Land Office. | |||||||||||
| Volume 57: Field Notes of the Survey of the Western Boundary of the State of Minnesota, commenced July 11th, 1859, completed August 4th, 1859, C.H. Snow [and] Henry Hutton, Surveyors. | |||||||||||
| Volume 58: Field Notes of the Survey of Western Boundary of Minnesota--between Iron Monuments at heads of Lake Traverse and Big Stone, commenced July 23d, 1860, completed July 23d, 1860, Henry Hutton, surveyor. | |||||||||||
| Volume 9: Field Notes of the Examination of the Western Boundary of the State of Minnesota [as run by C.H. Snow and Henry Hutton] and also a Diary of the Time Employed with the Service, Commenced November 8th, 1859 and Ending December 1859 by Ehud N. Darling. | |||||||||||
| Northern boundary of Iowa: Computations of observations, December 15, 1849. | |||||||||||
| Report of the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey, 1865-1866. | |||||||||||
| Sears, David Benton, Jr.: Recollections of expedition to establish Minnesota-Iowa state line and related correspondence, 1927, 1963. | |||||||||||
| Talcott, Andrew: | |||||||||||
| Iowa and Minnesota boundary survey: Letter and order book, May-August 1852. | |||||||||||
| Schedule of instruments procured for the survey of the northern boundary of Iowa, April 27, 1852. | |||||||||||
| Surveyor General of Wisconsin and Iowa records: | |||||||||||
| Copied from the originals held by the State Historical Society of Iowa, Land Office records of the Secretary of State. | |||||||||||
| This group of materials includes sets of letters received by the Surveyor General of Wisconsin and Iowa from the commissioner of the U.S. General Land Office, from deputy surveyors contracted to survey the boundary line and the platting and subdivision of Minnesota townships, and from the Surveyor General of Minnesota whose office was established on May 23, 1857. | |||||||||||
| The letters concern instructions issued to the surveyor general and the deputy surveyors; the appointment of a chief astronomer and principal surveyor; the appointment of assistants and interpreters; congressional appropriations; estimates of survey costs; the specification, transportation, use, and disposal of field equipment and instruments; reports on the progress of surveys; allegations of inaccurate or incomplete surveys, reports of resurvey examinations; the survey of Indian reserves, military reserves, and islands; payment vouchers and the payment of contracts; the establishment of district land offices and the office of the Surveyor General of Minnesota; and the transmittal, receipt, and examination of reports, field notes, diagrams, and plats. | |||||||||||
| Reports from Andrew Talcott, chief astronomer and principal surveyor, and William J. Neely, examining deputy, are included within the letters from deputy surveyors. Letters from the general public inquiring about the availability of land, preemption rights, and the survey of particular parcels are also included. | |||||||||||
| Of particular interest to Schneider were the commissioner's letter of May 16, 1853 directing the use of the Instructions to the Surveyor General of Oregon for surveys west of the Mississippi River; his letter of June 16, 1853 explaining the "Oregon Method" for calculating guide offsets and establishing standard parallel correction lines; his letter of April 23, 1856 containing various suggestions for establishing the guide meridians north of the Mississippi headwaters; his letters of March 23 and August 17, 1857 concerning the location of reserves for Chief Buffalo and Chief Hole-in-the-Day under the treaty of 1854 with the Lake Superior Chippewa; and a September 8, 1857 letter regarding the War Department's appointment of Seth Eastman to survey the Fort Ripley military reserve. | |||||||||||
| Letters received from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1849-1853. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| P2494 | 2 | Letters received from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1854-1862. 3 folders. | |||||||||
| Letters received from Deputy Surveyors, 1849-1856. 3 folders. | |||||||||||
| Letters received from the General Surveyor of Minnesota, 1857-1862. | |||||||||||
| Contracts and bonds of Deputy Surveyors, 1851-1853, 1855. | |||||||||||
| Oaths of Assistants, 1854-1857. | |||||||||||
| Minnesota Surveyors: Payment of contracts, 1852-1854. | |||||||||||
| Astronomical observations, horizontal angles, and surveyors notations: | |||||||||||
| Observations with Astronomical Transit Instrument, 1852. | |||||||||||
| Record of Horizontal Angles Measured for Determining the Azimuth of Signals, 1852. | |||||||||||
| Note A. Calculation of Offsets from the Tangent for Running the True Parallel of Latitude. | |||||||||||
| Note B. Calculation of Length of a Second of Latitude on the State Line. | |||||||||||
| Note C. Calculation of Length of a Second of Longitude on the State Line. | |||||||||||
| Circular from the Commissioner in relation to Mr. Burts [Solar] Compass, 1841. | |||||||||||
| Examination and Corrections of Townships 100 North, Ranges 30, 31, 32 and 34 West by William J. Neely, November 1858. | |||||||||||
| Map of Chief Buffalo's reserve, [circa 1857]. | |||||||||||
| A photographic copy of the diagram showing the tract of land selected by Chief Buffalo and transmitted by Thomas A. Hendricks, Commissioner, General Land Office, in his letter to Warner Lewis, Surveyor General for Wisconsin and Iowa, dated March 23d, 1857. | |||||||||||
| Reel | |||||||||||
| M618 | 1 | Iowa-Minnesota boundary survey records: 1 microfilm reel: negative; 16mm, diazo. | |||||||||
| Filmed by the State of Iowa, Department of General Services, Records Management Division, Micrographics Section, 1981. | |||||||||||
| Field Book: Iowa-Minnesota Boundary: 1858 resurvey of line between Townships 100 and 101 and Ranges 34 to 39, 1858. | |||||||||||
| Resurvey of Iowa and Minnesota Boundary Line, commenced August 18th, completed August 23d, 1858 by William J. Neely. | |||||||||||
| Volume 1. Instructions, Reports and Field Notes of the Chief Surveyor: | |||||||||||
| Instructions of the commissioner of the General Land Office, J. Butterfield, to George B. Sargent, surveyor general of Iowa and Wisconsin, in reference to establishing, running, and marking the northern boundary of the state of Iowa, February 2, 1852. Pages 1-5. | |||||||||||
| Instructions of Surveyor General George B. Sargent, Surveyor General's Office, Dubuque, to Captain Andrew Talcott, Deputy Surveyor in charge of the Iowa and Minnesota boundary survey, March 1852. Pages 6-10. | |||||||||||
| Chief Engineers Instructions to Deputy Surveyors, May 22-August 9, 1852. Pages 11-39. | |||||||||||
| Report of Principal Deputy Surveyor, Captain Andrew Talcott, February 19, 1853. Pages 41-64. | |||||||||||
| Report of Principal Assistant, Isaac W. Smith. Pages 66-78. | |||||||||||
| Offsets from guide lines to monuments. Pages 80-92. | |||||||||||
| Field notes of surveys for marking the northern boundary of the state of Iowa and for establishing on the same Range, Section, and quarter section corner monuments of the public lands to be surveyed north of said boundary line, compiled from the reports and notes of the several deputy surveyors of the public lands employed to assist in the survey by Andrew Talcott deputy surveyor in charge of the survey. Pages 93-377. | |||||||||||
| Volume 2. Field Notes of Deputy Surveyors: | |||||||||||
| Preliminary survey of Iowa and Minnesota boundary line by J.M. Marsh, Deputy Surveyor, commenced May 29th 1852, completed June 25th, 1852. Pages 1-57. | |||||||||||
| Field notes of the survey by Deputy Surveyor John S. Sheller, 1852. Pages 64-220. | |||||||||||
| Partial copies of field notes as contained on pages 64-220. Pages 235-337. | |||||||||||
| Volume 3. Miscellaneous letters, Oaths of Assistants, Agreements: | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous letters, April 6-August 21, 1852. Pages 1-40. | |||||||||||
| Oaths of Assistants, March-May 1852. Pages 41-78. | |||||||||||
| Agreements, April 1 and May 17, 1852. Pages 80-135. | |||||||||||
| Volume 4. Iowa-Minnesota Boundary Survey Plats, approved by the Surveyor General's Office, July 1st, 1853: | |||||||||||
| Map of the Northern Boundary of the State of Iowa being part of the Parallel of 43° 30' North Latitude, Surveyed and marked in the year 1852 by Authority of an Act of Congress approved March 3, 1849. | |||||||||||
| Map of the Guide Lines Surveyed for ascertaining the Northern Boundary Line of the State of Iowa: | |||||||||||
| Sheet 1. Ranges 4 to 7. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 2. Ranges 8 to 11. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 3. Ranges 12 to 15. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 4. Ranges 16 to 19. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 5. Ranges 20 to 23. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 6. Ranges 24 to 27. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 7. Ranges 28 to 31. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 8. Ranges 32 to 35. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 9. Ranges 36 to 39. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 10. Ranges 40 to 43. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 11. Ranges 44 to 47. | |||||||||||
| Sheet 12. Range 48 and extension into Missouri Territory. | |||||||||||
| Sketch of the Initial Point of the Northern Boundary of Iowa Shewing the Intersection of the Parallel 43° 30' North Latitude, with the Big Sioux River. | |||||||||||
RELATED MATERIALS
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Public lands -- Minnesota -- Surveys.
- Surveying -- Minnesota.
- Indian reservations.
- Places:
- Iowa -- Boundaries.
- Iowa -- Surveys.
- Minnesota -- Boundaries.
- Minnesota -- Surveys.
- Organizations:
- United States. General Land Office.
- United States. Surveyor General of Wisconsin and Iowa.
- Astronomical Station Madison (Iowa and Minn.).
- Types of Documents:
- Maps -- Facsimiles.
- Occupations:
- Surveyors -- Minnesota.
- Titles:
- Instructions to the surveyor general of Oregon, 1851.
Collapse
All