Boyd-Dickerson field survey books and patent maps
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Boyd-Dickerson field survey books and patent maps
- Date
- 1884-1990, undated (inclusive)
- Extent
- 5.35 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Coal mines and mining -- Appalachian Region
- Coal mines and mining -- Management
- Forests and forestry -- Kentucky.
- Harlan County (Ky.) -- History
- Kentucky -- Maps
- Lumbering -- Kentucky.
- Surveying -- Kentucky
- Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection
- Delano, Warren, 1852-1920
- Kentenia Corporation
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged by format.
- Preferred Citation
- 2023ms024: [identification of item], Boyd-Dickerson field survey books and patent maps, 1884-1990, undated, University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Following the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), the resource-rich eastern Kentucky mountains became highly sought after due to large amounts of salt, coal, and timber. Many corporations flowed into the region during the 1870s through the 1920s, seeking to secure land - and particularly mineral or subsurface rights - in order to extract the resources (PBS, 2006).
- Key to this expropriation of the land was the surveying of the land. Surveying entails using "known recorded and non-recorded documents, witness evidence, field survey measurements and deed computation analysis" of property (Commonwealth Surveying, 2021). This data is then used for "lacing the property corners, determining land area, locating improvements, determining encroachments, planning for future projects, preparing a survey plat and deed description and making legal presentations" (Commonwealth Surveying, 2021).
- The original Smith, Skidmore, Ledford Land Grant was a large county order patent that overlapped most of Southeastern Harlan County, from the Cumberland Gap to Cranks Creek in the eastern edge of Harlan County. Prior to 1867, Harlan County encompassed the eastern side of what is now Bell County. Multiple land grants had been made in the area by the Commonwealth of Virginia and later Kentucky. Prior to this huge grant, Virginia and later Kentucky, did not have a system to detect or eliminate overlapping surveys before the issuance of additional land grants. Nineteenth century courts were busy resolving all of the competing claims to land . Often these claims litigated unresolved due to disinterest of land owners or inability to litigate due to lack of funds to process or enter a claim.
- The Smith, Skidmore, Ledford patent was obtained with the idea that it would cover all unclaimed property and overlap claims to earlier patented property. Harlan County had substantial coal and timber reserves. After the chaos of the Civil War, northern financial groups were interested in consolidating these disparate tracts for commercial mining and timbering.
- In this particular case (Smith, Skidmore, Ledford Patent) a group led by Warren Delano, Jr., (uncle of president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt) purchased the Smith, Skidmore, Ledford patent through Boyd Dickerson. Land agents from the group would approach superior title land owners of mineral properties and ask if they were interested in an offer to buy the property. If the property owner refused to sell they would threaten a quiet title action against the land owner to settle the title, to be tried in U.S. District court in Covington, Ky., 250 miles away. Most of these land owners did not have the financial means to contest or assert their title. The result was that the land owners sold out and the Delano Group formed Kentenia Land Company consisting of about 33,000 acres. For the next eighty years Kentenia Land Co. leased coal mining rights to various companies until selling to a land division of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad in 1980 which holds title to the land today. (Miller, 2023)
- Sources:
- Bureau of Land Management, and Cadastral Survey Training Staff (Denver Service Center). Glossaries of BLM Surveying and Mapping Terms. U.S. Department of the Interior, 2003[1980]. https://www.blm.gov/or/gis/geoscience/files/BLMglossary.pdf
- Commonwealth Surveying. "Frequently Asked Questions." Surveying Services - Kentucky, 2021. https://www.commonwealthsurveying.com/faqs.html.
- Miller, Leo. "Comments on the Smith-Skidmore-Ledford grant", 2023. Notes made by the donor.
- Public Broadcasting Service. "Readings - A Short History of Kentucky/ Central Appalachia |Country Boys | Frontline." PBS, January 9, 2006. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/readings/appalachia.html.
- Scope and Content
- The Boyd-Dickerson field survey books and patent maps (dated 1884-1990, undated); 5.35 cubic feet; 1 box; 3 folders; 6 tubes) comprise field notebooks and maps for coal, lumber, and development company properties in southeastern Kentucky (including Bell, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, and Perry counties), tract maps for areas within these counties (including the aforementioned counties as well as Clay and Whitley counties), forest service maps (portions of the Daniel Boone National Forest and portions of Bell, Breathitt, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Owsley, and Perry counties), company operators' properties (including those of A.J. Asher, John L. Cornett, F.E. Gatliff, James and William S. Howard, and Andrew J. Short Smith), and patent maps (including the Ledford, Skidmore and Smith patents in Harlan County and Greasy Creek in Leslie and Harlan Counties). These maps and survey books represent the attempts by the Delano Group, later the Kentenia Corporation to locate the interfering patents on the ground to assert their title claims to the properties. A history of northern industrialists that started the age of resource extraction from Appalachia.
- The Boyd-Dickerson survey was part of an effort to demarcate property boundaries and to help facilitate the extraction of resources such as coal and lumber from these Kentucky counties. The survey's notebook collection from 1884 details handwritten notes on the surveying of southeastern Kentucky, covering portions of Bell, Clay, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, Perry, and Whitley counties. The survey allowed for coal, lumber, and development companies to stake their claims, demonstrating which areas they controlled, sought to control, and where resource deposits lay.
- The Boyd-Dickerson survey notebooks include the surveyors' notes on connecting lines, interfering patents, meanders, field notes, and an index for the surveying work conducted during 1884. Per the Bureau of Land Management, connecting lines mark the connection between two surveys, while patents demonstrate legal title to a property. Meanders refer to measures made around the banks or shores of navigable streams and other permanent bodies of water (Bureau of Land Management, 2003). There are also the surveyors' field notes and an index.
- The Boyd-Dickerson maps include maps from 1904-1990, as well as several undated maps. These maps detail coal, lumber, and development companies properties, tract maps, forest service maps, company operators' properties (A.J. Asher, John L. Cornett, F.E. Gatliff, James and William S. Howard, Andrew J. Short Smith) and patent maps.
- Companies documented in this collection include: Asher Coal Mining Company, Bell Coal Company, Black Mountain Corporation, Black Star Coal Corporation, Blackwood Land Company, Blue Diamond Coal Company, Crummies Creek Coal Company, Cumberland Valley Land Company, E.B. Coal Company, Harlan Wallins Coal Corporation, H.C.M. Company, Intermountain Coal and Lumber Company, Kentenia Corporation, Kentucky River Coal Corporation, Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Company, Peabody Coal Company, Pioneer Coal Company, Pocahontas Development Corporation, Southern Mining Company, and Vizard Investment Company.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
- Use Restrictions
- The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Contents of the Collection
Boyd-Dickerson field survey books, 1884
Scope and Contents
The Boyd-Dickerson field survey books series (dated 1884; 0.35 cubic feet) comprises field notebooks detailing connecting lines, interfering patents, meanders, field notes, and an index for the survey conducted during 1884 in Harlan and Bell County, Kentucky.
Book C: Connecting Lines, 1884
Book D: Interfering Patents, 1884
Book E: Meanders, 1884
Book F: Interfering Patents, 1884
Book G: Connecting Lines, 1884
Book H: Interfering Patents, 1884
Book I: Meanders, 1884
Book J: Field Notes, Exterior Boundaries (Northern Addition), 1884
Book L: Connecting Lines, 1884
Book M: Interfering Patents, 1884
Book N: Interfering Patents, 1884
Book X: Index, 1884
Maps, 1904-1990, undated
Scope and Contents
The Maps series (dated 1904-1990, undated; 5.0 cubic feet; 3 folders; 6 tubes) comprises maps detailing coal, lumber, and development company properties in Bell, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, and Perry Counties in Kentucky (includes properties of the following companies: Asher Coal Mining Company, Bell Coal Company, Black Mountain Corporation, Black Star Coal Corporation, Blackwood Land Company, Blue Diamond Coal Company, Crummies Creek Coal Company, Cumberland Valley Land Company, E.B. Coal Company, Harlan Wallins Coal Corporation, H.C.M. Company, Intermountain Coal and Lumber Company, Kentenia Corporation, Kentucky River Coal Corporation, Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Company, Peabody Coal Company, Pioneer Coal Company, Pocahontas Development Corporation, Southern Mining Company, and Vizard Investment Company) and Wise County in Virginia; tract maps for areas within portions of Bell, Clay, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, and Whitley Counties in Kentucky (includes the Elmer Stevens subdivision, the Ledford, Skidmore and Smith Tract, and Boyd Dickerson Tract); forest service maps (includes Redbird Purchase Unit of the Daniel Boone National Forest and U.S. Forest Service tract map for Bell, Breathitt, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Owsley, and Perry Counties in Kentucky); company operators' properties (A.J. Asher, John L. Cornett, F.E. Gatliff, James and William S. Howard, Andrew J. Short Smith); and patent maps for the Ledford, Skidmore and Smith Patents in Harlan County and Greasy Creek in Leslie and Harlan Counties.
Coal company property maps for Bell, Harlan, and Knox Counties, 1914-1972, undated
Map of Harlan County, Ky. and adjoining counties, 1929
Harlan Wallins Coal Corporation property map of Molus. Ky. lease and adjoining property, undated
Redbird Purchase Unit, Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky, 1969 (revised 1972), 1972
Map showing property of Bell Coal Company, Bell and Knox Counties, Ky., 1971
Tract map: Seagraves Creek, Turner's Creek, Seng Camp Branch, Black Mountain, 1918
Bell Coal Company, Bell and Knox Counties, Ky. featuring land claimed by Pioneer Coal Company, undated
Property and outcrop map of the Black Comet Mine of Harlan Wallins Coal Corporation and adjoining property showing location of prospects etc., undated
Plot of lease of lands from Black Mountain Corporation to Crummies Creek Coal Company in Harlan County, Ky., undated
Division map of Coal Area "C" Seam and Coal Area High Splint; Harlan County, Ky., undated
Map showing deed from W.R. Morgan Master to J.B. Miniard, 1953
Tract map of Bell County featuring Brush Mountain, Martins Fork, and Brownies Creek (83' 28", 36' 41" by 83' 26", 36' 41" by 83' 26", 36' 44" by 83' 23", 36' 44"), undated
Properties of Asher Coal Mining Company in Bell and Harlan Counties, Kentucky, 1914
Map showing Straight Creek Lands and Vicinity of Pineville, Bell County, Ky., 1934
Coal company property maps for Harlan, Letcher, and Perry Counties, 1924-1990, undated
Map of lease of E.B. Coal Company from Peabody Coal Company on Cranks Creek, undated
Coal lands along North Fork of Kentucky River, Perry and Letcher Counties, Kentucky, 1925
Coal lands Upper Middle Fork, Kentucky River and Straight Creek of Cumberland River, Leslie and Harlan Counties, Kentucky J-43B, 1924
Coal lands of Mary Vizard Kelly (formerly owned by Vizard Investment Company) shown with neighboring ownerships in Leslie and Harlan Counties, Kentucky with drill hole locations proposed by Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, 1947
Elmer Stevens Subdivision 1990 Revision - this map shows the: Wanda Peck, Vera Reicks, Elmer Gene Stevens, Jr., and LaTrenna Turner properties. This parcel is on the waters of Four Mile Creek, and being in Harlan County, Kentucky - Cawood and Associates, April 19, 1990, 1990
Tract map, 1884: Mary Helen, Black Mountain, Cranks, undated
Map showing tracts and grants of lands south of Days Branch of Cranks Creek, 1945
Tract map of Leslie County featuring Coon Creek, Wolf Creek, Brittons Branch, Lewis Creek, White Oak Creek, Greasy Fork, Dollar Branch, Lower Lick Branch, and Meetinghouse Branch, undated
Tract map: Leslie County and Harlan County line, Laurel Fork, Elk Creek, Left Hand Fork of Cawood and Right Hand Fork of Cawood, Left Fork Trace Branch and Right Fork Trace Branch, Upper Double Branch and Lower Double Branch, undated
Map of James and William S. Howard 3500 acre grant #8138; Surveyed March 6, 1845; Patented July 5, 1846; showing interfering grants and deed boundaries held adversely; December 5, 1917 W.T. Rice, undated
Southern Mining Company and Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Co. maps, 1904-1934, undated
Copy of map showing location of patents senior and junior to March 3rd 1845 along Pucketts Creek and Branches from Mouth of Jacksons Trail Creek surveyed for Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Co, 1904
Tract map featuring various properties including those owned by the Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Company (83' 32", 36' 41" by 83' 35", 36' 41" by 83' 35", 36' 44" by 83' 32", 36' 44"), undated
Property of Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Company located in Bell County and Harlan County, Ky.; traced from blue print of Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Company and Property map of Southern Mining Company, 1934
Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Company map of property to lease to Southern Mining Company, undated
Tracing of Lease Map of Southern Mining Company, Waston Lease of Insull Mine, Bell County and Harlan County, Ky., undated
Blueprint of Lease Map of Southern Mining Company, Waston Lease of Insull Mine, Bell County and Harlan County, Ky., undated
Southern Mining Company Lease and H.C.M. Company Lands, Bell County and Harlan County lines, undated
Tract map of Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Mining Company properties in Bell County and Harlan County (83' 29", 36' 41 by 83' 26", 36' 41" by 83' 26", 36' 44" by 83' 29", 36' 44"), undated
Kentenia Corporation property maps, 1910-1956, undated
Kentenia Corporation property map from actual surveys, 1905-1910; traced from original map by JM Hall, 1910
Kentenia Corporation property map from actual surveys, 1905-1910; Tract I (original 1944; revised 1956), 1956
Kentenia Corporation property map from actual surveys, 1905-1910; part of Tract II (revised 1956), 1956
Kentenia Corporation property map from actual surveys, 1905-1910; part of Tract II, Tract III, and Tract IV (original 1944; revised 1956), 1956
Kentenia Corporation property map from actual surveys, 1905-1910; Tract V (revised 1956), 1956
Kentenia Catron Corp. to Kentenia Cumberland Corp. 9421.41A including lands of Asher Coal Mining Company, Clear Fork of Yellow Creek, Shillalah Creek, and the west line of Ledford, Skidmore and Smith, undated
Properties of coal, lumber, and development companies and operators' farms (J.L. Cornett Sr., A.J. Asher), 1921-1981, undated
Tract map: Peabody Coal Co. successor to Black Star Coal Corp. and Wm. S. Speed Trustee; Harlan-Leslie Area - Beech Fork, Laurel and Greasy Creek, 1948
Blackwood Land Company, Letcher County (KY) and Wise County (VA) tract map: Blue Diamond Coal Company Scotia Leasehold, undated
U.S. Forest Service tract map for Bell, Breathitt, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Owsley, and Perry Counties, Kentucky with inset map of Turkey Creek, undated
United States District Court, Eastern Division of Kentucky map of land claims in A.J. Asher (plaintiff) vs. Kentucky River Coal Corporation (defendant), undated
Showing the property of the Intermountain Coal and Lumber Company in the State of Kentucky, 1926
Tracing of map of the John L. Cornett, Sr. Farm located on Poor Fork in Harlan County, Kentucky May 1904, 1926
Blueprint of map of the John L. Cornett, Sr. Farm located on Poor Fork in Harlan County, Kentucky May 1904, 1926
Map showing lands of Pocahontas Development Corporation situated in Harlan and Bell Counties, Kentucky, 1981
Tract map of the border of Harlan and Letcher Counties featuring divide between Middle and South Forks of the Kentucky River, Crest of Black Mountain between Harlan and Letcher, Fugitts Creek, Clover Lick Creek, and Clover Fork of the Cumberland River, undated
Map of old dividing line between Harlan and Knox Counties and the Kentucky Ridge (old dividing line between Harlan and Clay Counties) (includes Paint Lick, Pineville, and Straight Creek), undated
Map of Tr.[act] of Andrew J. Short Smith, Ky. D.B. 82-464 by N.R. Denham, Eng. Harlan, Ky., undated
A.J. Asher Old Home Farm on Red Bird Creek in Clay, Leslie and Bell Counties, Ky. (traced from old map of A.J. Asher, boundary lines shaded red, crests of ridges shown by broken lines; this tracing by B.B.D. Jan. 24, 1921), 1921
Tract map of properties north of the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River including tracts of the Smiths, Cornetts, and Eversoles, undated
Gatliff collection, 1930-1954, undated
Property map of F.E. Gatliff Estate and Gatliff Coal Company, Whitley and Knox Counties, Ky., 1930
Map of lands F.E. Gatliff Estate Harlan County Seagraves Creek and Clover Fork, High Splint, Ky. by H.F. Davis, Engr. 30-36 (versions A, B, and C), undated
Property map of F.E. Gatliff Estate, Harlan Coal Land Corporation, High Splint Coal Company, Harlan County, Ky. 30-49, 1931
F.E. Gatliff Estate sketch showing claims on Yocums Creek, Harlan County, Ky. 30-51 (versions no letter, A, B, C, D, E), 1931
Property map of F.E. Gatliff Heirs - Gatliff Coal Co. Whitley and Knox Counties, Kentucky (revised by C.W. Denham 1954), 1954
Gatliff properties Whitley County, Ky., undated
Ledford, Skidmore and Smith maps, 1917, undated
Map of the Ledford, Skidmore and Smith Patent No. 6975 86000 acres Harlan County Kentucky showing topography and senior interfering patents drawn by Duffield and Son 1889 (includes Tracts 2, 3, 6, 7, 13, 14, 23, and 24 as well as Cray's Knob and Martins Fork), undated
Map of the Ledford, Skidmore and Smith Patent No. 6975 86000 acres Harlan County Kentucky showing topography and senior interfering patents drawn by Duffield and Son 1889 (includes Tracts 4, 8, 9, 15, 16, 25, and 26 as well as crests of Brush Mountain and Cumberland Mountain, Martins Fork and Pucketts Creek), undated
Map of the Ledford, Skidmore and Smith Patent No. 6975 86000 acres Harlan County Kentucky showing topography and senior interfering patents drawn by Duffield and Son 1889 (includes Tracts 10, 17, 18, 27, and 28 as well as crest of Cumberland Mountain and the Cumberland River), undated
Map of the Ledford, Skidmore and Smith Patent No. 6975 86000 acres Harlan County Kentucky showing topography and senior interfering patents drawn by Duffield and Son 1889 (includes Tracts 19, 20, 29 as well as Middlesborough, crests of Big Log Mountain, Little Log Mountain, Rocky Face Mountain, and the Yellow Creek, Clear Fork of Yellow Creek, Crane Branch, and the state lines with Virginia and Tennessee), undated
Interference of the Ledford, Skidmore and Smith Tract with the Boyd Dickerson Tract 13381 85/700 acres (includes Rocky Face Mountain), undated
Map showing relative position of grants number 6975, 8138, and 8710 in Harlan and Bell Counties Kentucky, 1917
Patent maps of Greasy Creek (Leslie and Harlan Counties, KY), undated
3C, 3D, 3E (includes Robin Branch, Shell's Branch, Laurel Fork, Trace Fork, and Beech Fork), undated
4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, (includes White Oak Creek, Lewis Creek, Dollar Branch, Abners Branch, and Spurlock Branch), undated
No alphanumerical designation (includes Wolf Pen Branch, Bills Branch, Trace Branch, Laurel Fork, Lovely Branch, Joe Fork, Upper Joe Fork, Johns Branch, and Lewis Creek), undated
No alphanumerical designation (includes Round Hole Creek, Upper Bad Creek, Elk Creek, Holly Bush Branch, Lower Double Branch, Upper Double Branch, Laurel Fork, Simeon Branch, Beech Fork, Reuben Branch, and Catherine Bailey Branch), undated
No alphanumerical designation (includes Sandy Fork, Yeager Branch, Templeton Fork,, Robin Branch, Tan Trough Branch, Lewis Creek, Shell's Branch, Laurel Fork, Lower Double Branch, Upper Double Branch, Nolens Fork, and Catherine Bailey Branch), undated
Cumberland Valley Land Company maps, 1928, undated
Cumberland Valley Land Company Patents, Cawood (includes Martins Fork, Turtle Creek and Left Fork), undated
Map of lands of the Cumberland Valley Land Company lying on the waters of Bailey's Creek, Harlan County, Ky. Tracts 43 to 51 (surveyed 1909 by Fox and Peck Engineers Big Stone Gap, VA; retraced March 24, 1928 by N.J. Smith, Mining Engineer, Harlan, Ky.), 1928
Tract map of properties bordering the Cumberland Valley Land Company featuring Big Black Mountain and Bailey's Creek, undated
Tract map of properties bordering the Cumberland Valley Land Company featuring Big Black Mountain and Bailey's Creek for use in Harlan Circuit Court - J.B. Carter - Trustee vs. Mary Gilbert by G.T. Howard July 1, [corner of map with date is worn, date unclear], undated
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Table of Contents
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UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
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You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.