Illinois State Library

General Land Office Plats

The Original Government Surveys Of Illinois, The Field Notes, And The Federal Land Record Tract Books

The Illinois State Archives holds the originals of the three titles above. However, the Archives filmed them many years ago and film copies were scattered in various non-library sites around the state. The Illinois State Library now owns microfilm copy of all three sets.

The government surveyors in the early 19th century took notes in the field as they surveyed and left monuments of the public land survey system (the township and range system) on the ground. When the fieldwork was completed, they drew maps from their notes. The maps, township by township, became what are labeled Illinois Township Plats (I333.08 ILLI in the Map Reading Room). The field notes are labeled Illinois Survey Field Notes (I333.08 ILLI2 in the Map Reading Room). No personal names appear on these two types of records, but they do note land features, such as timber, prairie, lakes, marshes, etc. (One of the research uses for the surveys nationally is pre-settlement vegetation). These surveys are the earliest detailed maps and predate our county land ownership maps and atlases. The dates vary widely. The surveyors began in southern Illinois and worked their way north (see Illinois Libraries, January 1971, p. 34 for dates when various parts of Illinois were surveyed). The index to the plats and the field notes is a homemade index map done by the Illinois State Archives staff on an Illinois Department of Transportation outline map of the state. Township and range system must be identified to use the index map. A more legible field note index was drawn in four sheets by A. Wolfinbarger. Copies are available in the Map Reading Room. The numbers on the index maps refer to volumes and pages of the hard copy, not reel numbers, but the hard copy volume and page numbers are on the reel labels. Most of the state has two plats: bottom number for the earlier set and the top number for the second set drawn later. The State Archives has since received funding to put the plats on the Web in original color at http://landplats.ilsos.net/Flash/Welcome.html and on county CD-ROMs. The non-circulating CD-ROMs (SOFTWARE I333.08 ILLI) are in the Map Reading Room. The Illinois National History Survey published a CD-ROM set of the plats geo-rectified from the microfilm (SOFTWARE I333.08 ILLI2).

An unexpected bonus for the State Library was a third set of microfilm called the Federal Land Record Tract Books (I333.16 FEDE in the Illinois Document Microfilm). These tract books are the land sales records from the old General Land Office districts and are the most genealogical of the three sets. The index to the tract books is the Public Domain Land Sales microfiche (I333.16 PUBL). The Public Domain fiche provides easier access except in two cases. The Public Domain fiche contains the same information as the tract books, except where "state" appears in the residence column, and where "warrant" appears in the price column. At this point it becomes necessary to consult the tract books. The fiche is accessible by legal description, i.e. the township and range system, or personal name, with or without county known. The same information is now on the Web at http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/data_lan.html.

The microfiche reflects only the first sale of the land, from the government to the first owner. The booklet Illinois Public Domain Land Sales (I333.16 PUBL) accompanies the microfiche. The November 1975 and Winter 1979 issues of For the Record from the Illinois State Archives explain the computer conversion project from the tract books to the microfiche and land records in general. For in depth reading, see Early Public Land Surveys in the Northwest Territory (526.92 WEBB).

These microfilms do circulate. There is only one copy at the State Library of the field notes and tract books, but it is marked c.2, and cataloged as an Illinois document. There are two copies of the seven reels of plat microfilm.

The library received a paper copy of the plats for most of the southern half of Illinois. The call number for these is G4100s32.U5 No. [ ]. This set has its own numbering system and index map.