1912 Berthrong Map of Arizona

Ithamar Parsons Berthrong (February 26, 1853 - July 29, 1936) was an American surveyor, inventor, and draftsman active with the General Land Office of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Berthrong was born in Rochester, New York. He was made chief of the drafting division on March 23 of 1907. He is associated with many of the most important early 20th century maps issued by the GLO, among them, important maps of Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and more. More by this mapmaker...

The General Land Office (GLO) (1812 - 1946) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. Created in 1812, it took over functions previously conducted by the Department of the Treasury. The GLO oversaw the surveying, platting, and sale of public lands in the western United States. It also administered the Preemption Act of 1841, which allowed individuals who were already living on federal land to purchase up to 160 acres of land before it was offered for sale to the general public, if they met certain requirements. Following the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, which was also administered by the GLO, claims under the Preemption Act sharply decreased. The GLO became a part of the newly-created Department of the Interior in 1849. In 1891 Grover Cleveland and Congress created 17 forest reserves, due to public concern over forest conservation, which were initially managed by the GLO, until they were transferred to the Forest Service in 1905. In 1946 the Government Land Office was merged with the United States Grazing Service to become the Bureau of Land Management. Today the Bureau of Land Management administers the roughly 246 million acres of public land remaining under federal ownership. Learn More...

Daniel P. O'Hare (c. 1866 - April 3, 1921) was a map draftsman and engraver for the General Land Office. Born in Washington, D.C., to an Irish father and an American mother, O'Hare worked for the U.S. Geological Survey and the General Land Office until his death. He appeared in the Washington D.C. city directory as an engraver beginning in the late 1880s but was not associated with the Geological Survey until 1890, which does not necessarily mean he wasn't working for the Geological Survey before 1890. Learn More...

William Bauman Jr. (1866 - July 16, 1933) was an American draftsman. Born in Maryland, Bauman Jr. worked for the General Land Office from the 1890s through at least the mid-1920s. He married Cora Walker (March 15, 1868 - January 18, 1904) on September 12, 1899, with whom he had two children. After retiring from the General Land Office (the historical record does not tell us when he retired), he moved to Florida with his second wife, Rosa, and died in Tampa on July 16, 1933. Learn More...