Historical maps, plats, and surveys

Under the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850, Congress allowed 320 acres of land in Western territories to be claimed by a single person and 640 acres by a married couple. The claimants received final title to the land when they had lived on it four years and made certain improvements, or when they purchased their lands in lieu of fulfilling residency requirements. This volume of maps shows donation land claims, and other subsequent property holdings, in King County. The volume (probably a transcription, circa 1882, of U.S. Surveyor General maps) is a small (16 inches by 14 inches) bound blank folio into which thirty-six township maps have been drawn. Initial cartography utilized colored inks and a colored wash; later annotations were made in pencil. Each donation land claim is outlined in black ink and contains, as record information, owner name, acreage, claim number, and notification number. Coal lands and "cash entries" (claimant had purchased the land) are noted. Names and numbers correspond with ledger entries in Series 341, Field Survey Notes: Donation Land Claims (1882). In addition to property holdings, maps show watercourses (streams, springs, ponds, lakes); prairies and wetlands; resources (coal deposits, cranberry bogs); structures (roads, trails, wagon roads, school); and Native American villages and reservations. The volume is arranged in ascending numerical order by range (numbers 2-6) and within each range, by township (numbers 21-26).

The 1895 Washington State legislature authorized counties to establish diking and drainage districts. These districts, formed by citizen petition, were authorized to sell bonds and levy tax assessments to raise funds for flood control measures within the districts.

Part of the documentation prepared by King County drainage districts included topographic maps of the area covered by the districts. This series includes topographic maps of drainage districts 8 (White [Stuck] River near Algona-Pacific City), 9 (Sammamish River near Kenmore-Hollywood), 10 (Snoqualmie River near Duvall) and 11 (Green River near Auburn). The maps show fence lines, roads, drainage ditches and streams, as well as buildings. Proper names or other reference points rarely appear on these maps. Scale 1" = 200'.

During its existence (1959-1972) the King County Planning Department maintained a research section responsible for collecting, maintaining and analyzing various forms of planning data used to create and update the county's Comprehensive Plan. The maps in this series were maintained as an ongoing record of land use in King County.

Base maps, of half- or quarter-sections at a scale of 1" = 100' or 1"= 200', were acquired from various sources. Principal were the commercial Kroll Map Company, for urban areas, and the King County Assessor's Office, for rural areas not mapped by Kroll. Some maps, of more remote areas, were drawn by Planning Department staff.

Most base maps were blueline reproductions. On each map, the location of buildings on their sites was rendered in colored ink outlined in pencil. Some additions to the base maps were made on tracing paper or mylar overlays which accompany the maps. Type of structure, or nature of its usage (for example, type of business) was indicated. Also indicated were types of unbuilt natural environments (for example, woods or fields), and of non-structural land usages (for example, junk yards or agricultural croplands).

The 1626 individual maps have been organized into 22 rolls. The rolls are arranged in two ways. Rolls 1-17 are organized by ascending three-digit Kroll map numbers, which correspond to specific section numbers within townships and ranges (key available in series file). Rolls 18-22 are organized generally by range and then by township.

Washington State counties consider standing timber as real property for the purposes of taxation. During the period 1907-1967, the King County Assessor's Office undertook forest surveys, or timber cruises, to locate and estimate the quantity and taxable value of timber in a given section of land. Only land sections containing appreciable amounts of harvestable timber were surveyed.

Survey information was maintained in small ledgers or notebooks. Over time, the amount and detail of recorded information varied. Later records do not include the level of detail earlier ones. During the period 1907-1936, for each section represented , there are usually general remarks about the section as a whole, and detail descriptions of its forty-acre (quarter) tracts.

Timber data includes information such as the species and quality of timber growing on the land, a visual calculation of its board footage, the age of the timber, the costs of logging (determined by such things as nearness to market, topography, accessibility, etc.), and possible wood products. For each section, surveyors also noted, under the heading "Improvements," additions to the built environment (structures, agricultural plantings and field clearings, equipment and vehicles, etc.

Property owner names are generally stated when known. Textual information for each section is accompanied by a small (4" x 4") hand-drawn or -colored map. The section maps show topography; natural features (rivers, mountains, swamps, lakes); condition of land (burnt, cleared, plowed, cultivated); transportation infrastructure (roads, trails, mainline and logging railroads); structures (houses, sheds, barns); businesses and industries, and other features (water tanks, cemeteries, coal bunkers, etc.).

The Tolt Pipeline Trail was established under the 1968 Forward Thrust bond issue. It follows a City of Seattle Water Department pipeline right-of-way. This map, part of a brochure (c. 1974) describing the trail, is part of a folder of background information relating to various county trails that was kept by the director of the Department of Planning and Community Development. This department was established in 1976 and succeeded the Department of Community and Environmental Development. Its functions included overseeing community planning and development processes, coordinating local and national housing assistance projects, and monitoring land use and regulatory codes. The department was succeeded by the Department of Parks, Planning and Resources in 1986.

King County, through its public works agencies, has been historically responsible for the siting, construction, inspection, maintenance, repair and replacement of highway bridges, overcrossings, and undercrossings within its jurisdiction. The county maintains a record of these activities for each bridge. Part of this record is maps and drawings. This series is composed of oversized site and vicinity maps; structural plans; standard detail drawings; and field and survey sketches separated from Series 36, Road Engineer Bridge Files 1901-1994. In general, graphic materials measuring 8.5 by 14 inches or less have been retained in Series 36. The oversized graphic materials in this series are present in various physical formats, primarily reproductions using various processes (blueprint, blueline, brownline, xerographic). Field sketches may be original pencil or ink drawings on paper. A preliminary division of the oversized maps and drawing has been made, according to their storage status (folded in document boxes, or unfolded in map drawers) has been made. Within each group, maps have been given a temporary ascending numerical arrangement corresponding to the box and folder in Series 36 from which they were separated. Related records: Accessions from the Roads Map Vault of the King County Department of Transportation may contain original versions of reproduced drawings found in this series.

Washington State allows counties to grant franchises to corporations to use and occupy public streets, roads, rights of way and public places over which a county exercises its jurisdiction.

These records document individual utility and transportation franchises issued by King County between 1898 and 1988 to private companies (railroad, streetcar, gas, electric power, water, and cable television companies); water and sewer districts; federal agencies (Bonneville Power Administration; Civil Aeronautics Board); and local municipal governments. Franchise file documents vary over time but generally include a letter of application, a legal description of the proposed franchise, and records of the county's response. Additional correspondence may be present. Maps accompany most text records and may be either annotated copies of commercial or plat maps, or original maps created by the applicant.

The franchise files have been organized into three subseries based on the manner in which they were filed over time: by Auditor's file number, by county franchise number, and by legislative file (resolution, ordinance or motion) number.

Franchises arranged by Auditor's file number (1898-1915)

After 1901, Washington counties were permitted to issue franchises outside of incorporated cities and towns for electric railways and streetcar lines; to water and gas companies; and for electric power, telephone and telegraph transmission lines ("pole lines"). This subseries contains franchises for various street and interurban railway companies, notably the Puget Sound Traction, Light and Power Company; the Seattle Electric Railway Company; and the Highland Park and Lake Burien Railway. It also contains franchises for railroad over- and undercrossings, telephone and electric power lines, and water mains. The franchises are arranged in ascending numerical order by the official file number given to public records by the County Auditor, who served as the clerk of the Board of County Commissioners.

Franchises arranged by county franchise number (1916-1969)

In 1916, King County established new recordkeeping practices. Franchises were maintained in their own ascending numerical sequence (1-620) and were physically housed with the County Engineer as part of that office's right-of-way department. From 1916 to 1945, the majority of franchises issued were for electric power transmission lines. After 1945, numerous franchises to water companies and water and sewer districts reflect post-World War II housing construction. Television cable franchises are present in the files for the 1960s.

Franchises arranged by legislative file number (ordinances and motions; 1969-1988)

Following King County's adoption of its home rule charter in 1969, franchises were maintained in relation to, and by the same file number as, the County Council ordinance or motion which authorized them.