Government Land Office Survey Notes

Before the government could sell land to aspiring pioneers or speculators the land had to be surveyed.  It was this survey that placed the one-mile square grid over Iowa’s landscape. The survey notes kept by the deputy surveyor and turned into the Land Office are still available.  These survey notes describe every mile surveyed.  Consequently, they offer a great snapshot of what a local landscape looked like in the mid-1800’s.  In addition to the natural history information offered by these notes, the survey crews were often the first European-Americans to set foot on this land.

The links below provide surveyor, John Senter's notes as he surveyed the sections of land that include Pilot Grove, providing a snapshot of what the land was like just prior to European settlement.