MuseumLink Project Info   Pre European Settlement     Present
Day Forests Recent Forests Pre European Settlement Human
Influences Ancient Forests How Do We Know? Human Inspiration
Tree Guide Teacher Orientation       Land survey record  Land
survey record   Land Surveys Early land survey records provide
us with descriptions of vegetation in the state prior to
European settlement.   Most of Illinois was surveyed between
1804 and 1856. Property boundaries needed to be established
before settlers arrived to buy land.  Surveying helped people
make accurate maps.  Early surveyors in Illinois divided the
land into a series of parcels in a consistent and standardized
manner. They faithfully recorded the vegetation and general
character of the land in their notebooks.   The surveyors
started in the southern portion of the state, where the early
population of Illinois settled first. They often wrote down the
names of any large plants, or the plants that were abundant in a
place. They recorded whether the land was flat