Surveying
Early Iowa Surveying
When the survey began, Euro-American settlers were beginning to populate unsettled areas at a rapid rate, even before these areas could be surveyed and opened for settlement. Also at this time, the federal government desperately needed money, and one way that they could get it was from the sale of public lands. They needed a survey system that was efficient and could get the job done quickly. It became imperative that the federal government survey the lands to maintain order. Dispite this need for urgency, a high percentage of accuracy was maintained; in fact, in the upper Middle West, less than 5 percent of the surveys carried out before 1910 were inaccurate.