The General Survey Act was a United States law, signed on April 30, 1824, authorizing the president to employ military and civil engineers to survey, plan, and estimate routes for roads and canals of national importance. The War Department executed the statute through the Board of Engineers for Internal Improvements (formed May 31, 1824). The Act authorized surveys, plans, and estimates, not federal construction, and administrative instructions sometimes directed comparative studies that included railway alternatives when evaluating “roads.” [1]
By the late 1820s, critics objected to loaning Army officers to private corporations, to extra-compensation practices, and perceived diversion from purely public duties. Amid fiscal retrenchment and shifting Jacksonian politics, Congress repealed the General Survey Act in 1838, ending direct engineering aid to non-federal projects. [1] This is a list of notable surveys and projects undertaken by the War Department’s Board of Engineers for Internal Improvements under the General Survey Act (1824). Items are grouped by mode; entries point to documented surveys, plans, or comparative examinations performed within the Act’s authority.
Board of Engineers for Internal Improvements
The ‘‘General Survey’’ authority covered surveys, plans, and estimates; construction normally proceeded under state/private auspices or different federal statutes. For holdings and correspondence of the Board, see Record Group 77 at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). [24]
Railroad entries reflect departmental assignments or comparative examinations under the Act; many early railroad surveys employed Army officers in non-departmental roles and are therefore not included. [1]