Pott. Co. 
Composite GLO Pottawattamie County Map
GLO Index
Pottawattamie County Townships
Current Index
bigpigeon.us webpage Home > Resources > Land Records, updated by RAC 16 Feb 2020.
As of 16 Feb 2020, this webpage is a hodgepodge - I am combining material formerly in three locations in this webpage.
I envisage a narrative of several parts interspersed with images and external links.
About Big Pigeon's Land Records webpage header index maps:
  • The first index map summarizes the results of the GLO (Government Land Office) survey of Pottawattamie County begun in 1851. (The Council Bluffs Land Office then opened in 1853.)
  • ​The second index map shows today's Pottawattamie County organization by political townships, along with incorporated towns.
 
​Congressional townships in Iowa are identified by a township and a range number. Congressional townships and political townships often differ. For instance in the following scheme of townships in the Big Pigeon locale, you will see that the political township of Rockford is made up of the portions of two congressional townships that lie on the Iowa side of the Missouri River.
  • Click on any of the six buttons below to see the corresponding Government Land Office survey map for that congressional township. (For Rockford Township only T77N, R44W is shown.)
  • The township survey maps include controls that allow you to enlarge and select a portion of that township to view.
  • Thanks to the University of Iowa's Iowa Digital Library for providing these maps. The full set for Pottawattamie County is at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/search/mode/all/?searchterm=pottawattamie+glo&collection=glo.
For the first few months after the Council Bluffs Land Office opened in 1853, individuals who had already settled and made improvements to a parcel of land were allowed to obtain title for $1.25 per acre. 
Then the land was open to purchase by the general public. In the next several years much of the land was acquired by speculators using land warrants issued to veterans of previous conflicts. 
A purchaser received a land patent showing that he or she was the owner, free and clear, of the specified tract of land.
After several years that Land Office temporarily closed while land grants to railroads were prepared.
Much land in the Big Pigeon locale remained owned by speculators and unfarmed into the 1870s. Then speculators continued to own land, which they rented out to farmers, into the 1940s.


Below are some links to land patents for individual sections in the Big Pigeon locale. 
(None available at this time)


Records about purchases of Pottawattamie County land:
Background:
  • The United States often acquired title to land from a Native American tribe through treaty. However, the northern Pottawattamie Indians lacked title to the lands in southwestern Iowa that they briefly occupied. In By treaty in the early 1830s they had given up their land in the Chicago area and came to Iowa Territory via northwestern Missouri in 1837.
  • In 1846 the Pottawattamie bands began to move to northeastern Kansas and Mormons began to arrive from the east.
  • What is now northwestern Pottawattamie County was surveyed in 1851 and 1852 and put on the market in 1853.
  • Before land sales were opened to the general public, individuals already living on a parcel were given an opportunity to buy it. However, most Mormons had already moved on to Utah, having sold their improved land at bargain basement prices.
  • The base price for government land in the 1850s was $1.25 per acre.
Websites:Commentary:
  • Before using these websites, find the township and range number of interest using the above index map link. (E.g., Boomer Township is township 77N, range 43W.)
  • Then find the section number using a township plat in one of the following atlases. (I’m interested in Section 21).
  • To find the land survey map for your township, click on the above hotspot and scroll until you find the correct township.
  • The land survey maps are dfficult to use and are I believe are not helpful for most researchers.
  • To find the original entry records for your township, click on the above hotspot and complete  the Location and Land Description information on the left-hand side. You can leave the meridian field blank as all of Iowa has the same prime meridian.
  • Most land in the Big Pigeon area was bought by speculators in the 1850s and wasn’t put into use by a farmer until after some years after the Civil War ended.
  • If you don’t understand midwest land organization, you can go to the Local History page, click on Pottawattamie County, Iowa - An HIstorical Overview, and read the Organizing Pottawattamie County section.
  • For subsequent land transactions, the Auditor’s office in the Pottawattamie County Court House has a collection of books summarizing rural sales.  Before accessing these books, know the township description, section, and approximate year of the transaction.  Boomer Township's description is "Township 77 North, Range 43 West".  Hazel Dell is "Township 76 North, Range 43 West".  These land books are much easier to use than the alternate collection in the Recorder’s office, but I have found some errors in them. 

Atlases including Pottawattamie County township land ownership plats:Commentary:
  • In many instances, the on-line township plats lack sufficient resolution. I plan to develop a set of higher-resolution plats of portions of townships in the Big Pigeon vicinity. To access these plats, go to the Big Pigeon > Big Pigeon Plats page of bigpigeon.us.
  • You can buy most individual townships plats through historicmapworks.com.
  • The Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society in Council Bluffs has most of these atlases. The nearby Council Bluffs Public Library also has some.
  • The content of the 1900 Inness plats seems identical to the content of the printed 1902 Ogle plats.
  • The 1919 Atlas also lists by township most rural family members .
  • The plats in the 1930 Hixson atlas seem to be redrawings of the 1919 plats.
About the Big Pigeon Maps & Plats page header index maps:
  • The first index map summarizes the results of the GLO (Government Land Office) survey of Pottawattamie County begun in 1851. (The Council Bluffs Land Office then opened in 1853.)
  • ​The second index map shows today's Pottawattamie County organization by townships, along with incorporated towns. 
  • The plat files accessed from the above lists are each several megabytes in size. They might load slowly on your computer.
  • Clicking on a portion of a plat will enlarge that portion.
  • Most printed Pottawattamie County township plats for various years are available at the Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society and the Council Bluffs Public Library. 
  • You can locate on-line Pottawattamie County township plats through my Resources > Big Pigeon Links webpage. Look for the Atlases including Pottawattamie County township land ownership plats section.
  • On-line township plats are generally of limited resolution.
  • Using my collection of printed plat books and atlases and my iPhone camera, I hope to continue producing high-resolution plats of selected portions of Big Pigeon vicinity townships to add to the above list.
  • If you are unfamiliar with Pottawattamie County townships or the 36-section layout of a congressional township, you might go to the More History > Pottawattamie County webpage and look at portions of Pottawattamie County, Iowa - An Historical Overview.​​