Archives West Finding Aid

The Willamette Valley Township Survey Plats consist of reproductions of the original manuscript plat maps prepared by the U.S. General Land Office and the U.S. Surveyor General. Each township of 36 square miles is on a separate sheet with a scale of about 1:31,680 or 2 inches=1 mile.

This collection includes sheets numbered 2 through 116 covering the Willamette Valley from north of Portland, Oregon to Cottage Grove. The sheets cover from Townships 2N to 20S and Ranges 6W to 4E. An index map showing locations of all the sheets is part of the collection.

The plats show section lines as well as natural features and vegetation, such as prairie; timber; soil types; rivers, streams, sloughs, and wetlands; and fields. The maps include some topographic features as well as descriptions of the vegetation type, such as "open oak", "open fir", or "thick undergrowth". Wagon trails, military or civilian roads, settlements, Indian Reservations, townsites, buildings, cultivated land, and land claims are also depicted. The margins include notes, endorsements, and observations made by the surveyors as well as notes and endorsements certifying the surveys by later Land Office officials.

These Survey Plats as well as Field Note Records for the surveys are available online through the Land Status and Cadastral Survey Records website prepared by the Bureau of Land Management - Oregon State Office.