Surveyor’s Walk

Section 33 · Township 9 South, Range 6 West · Willamette Meridian · Polk County, Oregon

As the surveyor drew it

Section 33 on the hand-drawn 1855 township plat: the number 33, the words “Level prairie and” curving to the northeast, and small black squares labeled Tedroe and Johnson. — Section 33 on the 1855 township plat. Look for the large “33,” the words “Level prairie and” curving up to the northeast, and the small black squares marked “Tedroe” and “Johnson”: settlers’ dwellings. Along the top, the line between Sections 28 and 33 carries its compass bearing and its length, “80.07” (in chains; 80 chains make a mile). On the left edge, halfway down the section’s west line, a black square sits in a hatched patch. Murphy’s post at that spot fell “in dooryard,” near Mrs Gillam’s dwelling; that this square is her house is our reading, not a label on the plat. 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. Section 33 is marked; school sections are tinted. North is up; Section 1 is the northeast corner.

The same ground today

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USGS aerial imagery. Red: the section’s own pieces. Dashed gold: Donation Land Claims that took the rest.

In the surveyor’s own words

Written by AI Deputy Surveyor Daniel Murphy ran the section lines here in March 1854. The township map drawn from his notes, approved May 1, 1855, letters “Level prairie and soil 1st rate” across Section 33 and marks two settlers’ dwellings in it. Here is what has been copied out so far.

From the record Written by AI

In March 1854 Deputy Surveyor Daniel Murphy set the post halfway down the west side of Section 33. The spot fell “in dooryard,” 39 links (about 26 feet) from “Mrs Gillam’s dwelling.” Gillam is his spelling; the later land patents read Gilliam.

“in dooryard”

Deputy Surveyor Daniel Murphy, March 1854, Field notes, at the quarter corner on the west side of Section 33

Source: Murphy, Daniel. Field notes of the subdivision of T. 9 S., R. 6 W., Willamette Meridian, 1854–55. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. R0029 (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of this ground, October 2026; page not given)

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From the record Written by AI

The township map drawn from Murphy’s notes was approved on May 1, 1855. Lettered across Section 33 and on to the northeast, it says: “Level prairie and soil 1st rate.”

“Level prairie and soil 1st rate.”

General Land Office township plat, approved May 1, 1855, lettered across Section 33 and on to the northeast

Source: General Land Office township plat, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., approved May 1, 1855. BLM Oregon State Office (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of this ground, October 2026; see the picture above)

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From the record Written by AI

The plat marks settlers’ dwellings with small black squares. Two of them sit in the northeast part of Section 33, labeled “Tedroe” and “Johnson.” Tedroe is the surveyor’s spelling; the later patent reads Tedrow.

“Tedroe”

General Land Office township plat, approved May 1, 1855, label beside a dwelling symbol in Section 33

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A larger piece of the 1855 township plat: Sections 29, 28 and 27 above 32, 33 and 34, with dwellings labeled Tedroe, Johnson and Taylor and the lettering “Level prairie and soil 1st rate.” — The 1855 township plat, wider. The large numbers are sections: 29, 28 and 27 across the top, 32, 33 and 34 below. Find the small black squares labeled “Tedroe,” “Johnson” and “Taylor,” and “Level prairie and soil 1st rate” curving up from Section 33. The small figures along the lines, such as 80.07, are lengths in chains. Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office. A public record of the United States, retrieved by the landowner.

School land

Section 33 is not one of the school-section numbers. Under the federal school-land law for Oregon (1859), Sections 16 and 36 of every township were set aside for schools.

“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

Claims touching this section

Donation Land Claim No. 52, about 319 acres
Donation Land Claim No. 53, about 324 acres · the surveyor’s words are copied out on its card
Donation Land Claim No. 54, about 322 acres · the surveyor’s words are copied out on its card
Donation Land Claim No. 55, about 321 acres

Survey-grid facts: claim numbers and record acres from BLM’s survey grid map.

Sources

Permanent link: https://parcelchronicle-refdesk.drdavesullivan.workers.dev/walk/OR33-T9S-R6W-S33

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