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History of the Certified Federal

Surveyor Program

By Emily Pierce, PS

I’m a real history buff and I will use almost any excuse to dig into the past and
learn something new. Last year, when we celebrated Columbus Day, which is
increasingly being celebrated as Native American Day, led me to a related surveying
question—How are Indian Trust Lands surveyed?
Quite a few of my past blogs talk about early surveying, but I haven’t really gone
into how the land came to be owned by the government in the first place. It’s a
brutal history that still affects all of us today. I’ve included a couple of links at the
bottom of this article that summarize that history and provide additional insight.
Moving on to the Indian Trust Lands subject—I happen to have completed
specialized coursework in this area since I first earned my CFedS back in 2012. It’s
helped me perform a wide range of cadastral services within Wisconsin, including
surveys on Native American lands. So why is it recommended that special certification
should be acquired to survey on Indian Trust Lands? The short answer is because
Reed, Roland, photographer. The Land Mark. , ca. 1912. Nov. 4. there are additional considerations (vs surveying privately owned parcels). A
Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2006684432/ prescribed national approach was developed to handle these considerations.

The longer answer
Here’s the longer (and more interesting) answer that describes how Indian Trust
Lands can be challenging.
The U.S. Government began allotting land to Native Americans in 1798 through
treaties (which are defined as legally binding agreements between nations). After
1871, Congress declared that no further treaties would be made and all future deals
with Native Americans would be through legislation only.
Even with legislative decrees, these laws continued to be based on allotments,
and in 1887, the use of allotments became national policy. The General Allotment
Act authorized the president (at the time it was Grover Cleveland) to survey tribal
United States Office Of Indian Affairs, and T. J Morgan. Map land and divide the area into allotments for individuals and families, with the idea
showing Indian reservations within the limits of the United that they would be farmers like many homesteaders were. Of course, this didn’t
States. Washington, D.C.: Office of Indian Affairs, 1892. Map.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2009579467/. take into account whether Native American families wanted to farm or whether the
land was even tillable.
The president had the discretion to decide where and when to apply this law to
native lands. Members of the tribe (or those indigenous people living on the
reservation) were given permission to select tracts of land for themselves and their
children (usually 40 to 160 acres). If the tribal members didn’t do that, the tracts
were assigned by a BIA agency superintendent. “Surplus lands” could be sold to the
federal government. Over the years, 60 million acres of land were either ceded
outright or sold to the government as surplus lands.

Allotment, not ownership
Even though Native Americans had allotments, they didn’t technically own the
Allotments in Kansas,
back in the day. Hudson- land. Only those homesteaders who actually purchased the land could sell or do
Kimberly Pub. Co., what they wanted on their land because they had legal title to it. Conversely, the
Cartographer. Map of
Pawnee Reservation federal government retained ownership of Native American’s allotments, which were
showing allotments. held in trust.
[Kansas City, MO:
Hudson-Kimberly Pub That meant that they couldn’t sell or lease their land for 25 years after the allotment
Co, ?, 1893] Map.
https://www.loc.gov/ was granted; before that time, the federal government had to approve any transactions.
item/2016586525/.
16 EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 60 • NO 1 / 2024 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY