The U.S. Surveyor General began surveying Kansas after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Plat maps were created at that time to document the surveys. The plats show public lands within the territory divided by range, township and section. Townships were measured in six mile increments starting from the Kansas-Nebraska border. Ranges were numbered in six mile increments east and west from the Sixth Prime Meridian, which crosses through present day Wichita, Kansas. This system is still the basis for legal land description in the state. The Kansas Historical Society acquired a collection of these original plats previously held by the Kansas Secretary of State. The National Archives and the Bureau of Land Management also hold copies of the plats. The sixteen plats presented here are from the Kansas Historical Society collection but are not included in the National Archives copies. These plats cover portions of Douglas, Jefferson, Johnson, Shawnee and Wyandotte counties. Kansas land surveyors are the most frequent users of these maps. They use them to verify section corners when surveying land. A complete collection of the original plats is available in the Society's Center for Historical Research. The plats are also available on microfilm (AR 137-143). For more information on these plats and the accompanying field notes, click on the Land Survey Maps link below.

Creator: U.S. Surveyor General of Kansas and Nebraska
Date: 1855-1861