Foster County in east central North Dakota near the northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase was acquired from France in 1803 for $3,000,000. The huge tract comprised all of the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains except for Texas.
Since the land other than that which was to become the state of Louisiana had never been surveyed, this step was necessary before the vast expanses could be opened for settlement.
The survey was begun in 1815 using a system or procedure devised by Thomas Jefferson and first used in the survey of the Northwest Territory. Starting from a Base Line and a Prime Meridian the land was laid out in townships six miles on each side lying squarely within the true N, W, S and E directions. The townships are numbered in sequence north or south from the Base Line and in Ranges east or west from the Prime Meridian. For example, Carrington Township is described as "Township 146, Range 66 west of the Fifth Prime Meridian".
The townships in turn are divided into 36 sections each containing 640 acres. The sections can, as necessary, be further subdivided into 160-acre quarters and so on into 40's and 80's. The sections are numbered starting with section 1 at the northeast corner and continuing alternately left and right to 36 at the southeast corner.
Since the section lines and guide meridians running true north and south converge slightly to the north due to the curvature of the earth additional base lines (standard parallels) are laid out at 24-mile intervals north and south of the Base Line. Similarly auxiliary (Guide) meridians are laid out every 42 miles east and west along the standard parallels. In making the survey the section lines are run so that all the deficits in area due to convergence of the north‑south lines were thrown into the sections along the west and north boundaries of the township which are termed the "auditor's lots."
The starting point for the survey of the Louisiana Purchase is located in southern Arkansas. This point, where the Fifth Standard Meridian and the Base Line intersected, was established in 1815. As the years went on the survey was extended north and west through Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota east of the Missouri River and all of North Dakota to the Canadian boundary.
According to an 1879 map of Dakota Territory only the counties along the Red River and the route of the Northern Pacific as far as the Missouri River had been subdivided into sections at the time. However, in the eastern half of the state all the Standard Parallels and the Guide Meridians were marked in the early 1870's. In Foster County the 11th Standard Parallel, the southern boundary of the county was surveyed in September 1873.
Stakes were placed at half-mile intervals at the section corners and at the quarter lines. The Ninth Guide Meridian, the line between Longview Melville, Wyard‑Carrington and Birtsell‑Estabrook townships, was marked out similarly in July and August the following year, 1874. Probably the members of this surveying party were the first to set foot on what was to be the townsite of Carrington who knew exactly where they were. The stakes along the Standard Parallel were used by the early settlers, the Zinks, Holcombs and others, who arrived in the area before the section lines had been marked.
Copies of the surveyor's notes for the government survey of Foster County are kept in the Auditor's office and the maps, one for each township, drawn from these notes are in the Register of Deed's map collection. Each map gives the measured distances in chains (one chain‑ 66 feet and 80 chains ‑ 5280 feet, one mile) of the distance between any two markers different from 80 chains. The area of each section is given, usually 640 acres, except along the north and west boundaries. In these sections the exact acreage (parcels, auditor's lots) of the nominal 40 acres along the boundaries is given as well as the total for the section. The deficiency in acreage of these boundary 40-acre subdivisions is not insignificant. For example, Section 6 in Birtsell Township at the extreme northwestern corner of county contains only 610.90 acres "according to the government survey thereof." In other words this section is 4.55 percent smaller than the full size 640-acre section.
All bodies of water, streams with running water and dry water‑courses are shown on the maps, as are swampy areas. Bodies of water in Township 147, Range 63 (Lake Juanita), Township 145, Range 65 (Lake George) and several others then and now still unnamed in other townships are shown on the map. The locations of the edges of the lakes (meander lines) are shown together with the acreages of the small (nominally 40 acre) subdivisions which border the lakes. Numerous smaller watercourses are shown on the maps; most of them were dry at the time of the survey. Only two of the streams are named: the Dakota (now James across the county) and the Pipestem in Wyard and Longview Townships. The valley of the Dakota and several other prominent hills are shown by mapmaker's crosshatching but no elevations are indicated.
The map also shows the location of structures, sod houses and shacks and with the occupant's names if any were at home when the surveyors went by. Some of these recorded names are incorrectly spelled. Plowed land is indicated wherever encountered.
The only platted settlement shown is Newport in the southeastern corner of Section 36 in Melville Township. The village of Melville is located farther west in the same section.
The maps also give some idea of the progress of the construction of the Jamestown and Northern branch line north of Jamestown. In map of Melville Township which was surveyed in late September 1882 the railroad grade had been built across sections 32, 29, and 30, not quite reaching the east boundary of Carrington Township and the Carrington townsite. Two years later, July 1884, the map of Estabrook Township shows that construction was proceeding north along the west boundary of the township toward the county line.
In Wyard and Longview Townships there are several trails across the prairie going in a generally northwesterly direction, another leads towards the Carrington townsite. The Jamestown‑Fort Totten Trail is shown following the Dakota River to W.H. Larrabee's place south of Lake Juanita. The trail then leaves the river to proceed overland northerly into Eddy County toward the Sheyenne River.
Dates of Survey of Subdivisions Foster County Townships
1. T‑145 R‑65 (Bordulac) 1882 July 20 ‑ 28
2. T‑145 R‑66 ( Melville ) 1882 July 23 ‑ August 4
3. T‑146 R‑67 ( Wyard) 1882 September 22 ‑ 26
4. T‑145 R‑66 (Carrington) 1882 September 26 ‑ 30
5. T‑145 R‑66 (Rose Hill) 1882 September 29‑October 5
6. T‑147 R‑64 (Larrabee) 1882 October 5 ‑13
7. T‑146 R‑64 ( Haven ) 1882 October 14 ‑ 21
8. T‑146 R‑63 (Rolling Prairie) 1882 October 23 ‑ 30
9. T‑145 R‑62 (Eastman) 1882 October 31‑ November 5
10. T‑147 R‑63 (Florence) 1883 August 23‑September 5
11. T‑147 R‑67 (Birtsell) 1884 July 19 ‑ 21
12. T‑147 R‑66 (Estabrook) 1884 July 22 ‑ 24
13. T‑145 R‑65 (Nordmore ) 1884 August 1‑ 3
14. T‑145 R‑64 ( Bucephalia ) 1884 August 5 ‑ 7
15. T‑145 R‑67 (Longview) 1884 August 11‑13
16. T‑145 R‑63 (McKinnon) 1884 August 30 ‑ September 3
17. T‑146 R‑62 ( Glenfield) 1884 September 4 ‑ 7
18. T‑147 R‑62 (McHenry) 1884 September 13 ‑18
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 142