Surveyor’s Walk

Donation Land Claim No. 54 · Township 9 South, Range 6 West · Willamette Meridian · Polk County, Oregon

As the surveyor drew it

Part of the Donation Land Claim plat of T. 9 S., R. 6 W.: claims drawn across the section lines, each with its owner’s name, number and acreage, including John W. Tedrow’s Claim 54 and John Johnson’s Claim 53. — The Donation Land Claim plat. Each claim carries its owner’s name, number and acreage, and the claims cut across the section lines. John W. Tedrow’s Claim 54 runs up the page in Section 33, marked 322.00 acres; John Johnson’s Claim 53 lies to the northeast. Just right of the Tedrow claim’s top edge is a small lot marked 6.93. The red numbers (1a, 2a and so on) mark the small lots left between claim lines and section lines. Dated 1861 in the landowner’s files; that date has not been re-checked. Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office. A public record of the United States, retrieved by the landowner.

Our drawing of the township

Our drawing, not the surveyor’s plat: Township 9 South, Range 6 West, Willamette Meridian. Donation Land Claim No. 54 lies in this township. Claims don’t follow the section lines, so no square is marked.

The same ground today

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USGS aerial imagery. Red: Donation Land Claim No. 54, as the survey grid draws it.

In the surveyor’s own words

Written by AI Donation Land Claim No. 54 was the 322 acres of John W. and Rachel Tedrow. Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson surveyed it on August 10–11, 1855. His notes describe rich prairie, fir and oak timber, and little improvement.

From the record Written by AI

Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson surveyed the Tedrow claim on August 10–11, 1855. BLM’s index gives the year as 1856, but the field notes are dated 1855, and we follow the notes.

“10th Aug 1855”

Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson, 1855, Field notes of the Tedrow claim survey, page 351

Source: Hutchinson, Thomas H. Field notes of the Donation Land Claim surveys, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., 1855. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. D0022, page 351 (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of this ground, October 2026; see the page picture above)

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From the record Written by AI

Hutchinson summed up the 322 acres in one line: little improvement on the claim, but valuable for the timber on the Luckiamute River and the rich prairie.

“There is but little improvement on the claim — but it is valuable on account of the timber on Luckiamute river and the rich prairie.”

Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson, August 1855, Field notes of the Tedrow claim survey, page 351

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From the record Written by AI

The same page begins in mid-sentence: the other half of the claim “is covered with fir & oak timber of good quality.” What the first half was is on the page before, which has not been copied out.

“the other half is covered with fir & oak timber of good quality”

Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson, August 1855, Field notes of the Tedrow claim survey, page 351 (spelling regularized)

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A handwritten page of Thomas H. Hutchinson’s 1855 field notes for the Tedrow claim, stamped 0351. — Hutchinson’s field notes, 1855: the last page of the Tedrow claim survey, stamped 0351. The heading names Claim 54, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., and John W. Tedrow. Read down for “fir & oak timber” (spelling regularized), “but little improvement,” “the rich prairie” and the date, “10th Aug 1855.” Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office. A public record of the United States, retrieved by the landowner.

Also on file for this ground

Facts from the records that are not the surveyor’s own words: patents, entries and figures on the plat.

From the record Written by AI

The first bearing tree at the claim’s northwest corner is a white oak, 20 inches through, S 23° W, 23 links. Stand at the corner, face south, turn 23 degrees toward the west and walk 23 links (about 15 feet): find the tree and you can find the corner.

Source: Hutchinson, Thomas H. Field notes of the Donation Land Claim surveys, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., 1855. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. D0022 (tree record as the landowner’s history gives it; page not given)

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From the record Written by AI

The Tedrows’ patent, the federal document that passes title out of government hands, was not issued until June 14, 1877.

Source: BLM General Land Office Records (land patents), T. 9 S., R. 6 W. (looked up by the landowner; as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of this ground, October 2026)

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School land

Donation Land Claim No. 54 is a claim, surveyed on its own lines rather than as a numbered section. Under the federal school-land law for Oregon (1859), Sections 16 and 36 of every township were set aside for schools. Where a claim lies partly inside one of them, the rules for land settled before the survey decide whether the claim or the school grant held that part. This card doesn’t yet show which sections the claim covers; the school sections in this township are listed below.

“Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the following propositions be, and the same are hereby, offered to the said people of Oregon for their free acceptance or rejection, which, if accepted, shall be obligatory on the United States and upon the said State of Oregon, to wit: First, That sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in every township of public lands in said State, and where either of said sections, or any part thereof, has been sold or otherwise been disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to said State for the use of schools.”
Act of February 14, 1859, ch. 33, § 4, 11 Stat. 383, 383 (35th Cong., 2d Sess.), “An Act for the Admission of Oregon into the Union.”

The school sections in this township: Section 16 and Section 36.

Reserved earlier by the 1848 Territorial Act, § 20. Checked against the page image of the official scan.

How school lands worked

About this claim

Donation Land Claim No. 54 covers 322 acres on the record.

Sources

Permanent link: https://parcelchronicle-refdesk.drdavesullivan.workers.dev/walk/OR33-T9S-R6W-C54

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