Don't Fence Me In

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Vecteezy--"Night Starry Sky and Pink Clouds Sunrise"


"Land, give me land, under starry skies above,"

"Don't Fence Me In"

You probably recognize these words penned in a 1934 text by Robert Fletcher, a poet and engineer with the Department of Highways in Helena, Montana.  When Cole Porter was asked to write a "cowboy" song, he used the text and "Don't Fence Me In" quickly became the #1 song in 1944.  It was recorded by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, by Kate Smith, and Roy Rogers used it in at least two movies.

While the text and song may have been 1930s/1940s era and still popular today, the sentiment was anything but new.  The cry of "give me land!" has been heard in every corner of the United States since its birth in 1783.  "Give me land!" has been uttered in the language of every immigrant who ever set foot on our shores.

The "don't fence me in" spirit was evident from the very beginning of the United States.  The Treaty of Paris,1783, ended the Revolutionary War and gave the fledgling United States 270 million acres of land east of the Mississippi River.  The new nation was "land rich" but the treasury was empty.


Some of the former colonies had made promises of land to men who served in the army and it was time to pay up.  The new land in the west could be used to satisfy their obligations.  Enterprising men saw the opportunity to make some money; buy undeveloped land and resell it.  Even states tried to expand their borders by claiming more land.  Connecticut claimed that by maintaining its northern and southern borders it could claim everything west as far as the Mississippi.  Pennsylvania said, "Not so fast; we were here first."

In 1785 the Land Ordinance was formed to survey land into 36 square mile townships which would then be sold at the price of $1.00 per acre.  The Public Land Survey System was established and became the standard for measuring land obtained from the federal government.  The system is still in use today; take a look at any property deed.

In 2020, during the Covid lockdown, I developed a presentation explaining this system which I presented virtually through the King County Library System.  I made a simple handout showing the Township, Range and Section information and how to read the land descriptions.  It always makes me smile when someone mentions that they have gone back to that handout to understand a land description for an ancestor.  I've given that presentation a couple of times since with some additional ways to research land in family history using the General Land Office records available at the Bureau of Land Management website.

I had used screenshots of the site to demonstrate how to make different searches.  One of my  favorite methods of research is  to convert the PLSS land  description to latitude/longitude  coordinates that can be plugged into modern map apps such as Google Maps.  This is one way to see the original land patent in present day.  Another search is to choose a modern day landmark and convert the latitude/longitude coordinates to the PLSS description.  Using the township, range and section information, you can find who received the original patent.  You can also find who else received adjacent land--possibly siblings, cousins, or in-laws.

A few weeks ago I visited the BLM website and was shocked to learn that the site has been "redesigned".  Gone are the familiar green and tan search pages; simplified black and white search boxes have replaced them.  And different searches are in different places.  As a result the slides for my land presentation are no longer relevant.  

The information is still available; it just takes different searches to find it.  I know that I am not the only person who relies on this site for information so I am learning how to navigate the new format and how to perform the same functions plus some new ones.  I will be working on this for the next couple of months and hope to be ready to present to the society on November 21.

In the meantime, if you have encountered a problem at the new site, or found a new solution, please let me know.  I want to be sure to give useful information.  You may contact me at m.strickland@skcgs.org.

MaryLynn Strickland  





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