In 1800, the United States Congress created local Land Offices to facilitate the selling of land to settlers. Each office had a Register to handle sales and documentation, a Receiver to oversee the money, and a Surveyor General who provided plat maps, one of which was logged in the Land Office. In 1852, over one year after the Washington Territory was created, the Surveyor General position was created for the new territory.

Deputy Surveyor General Edgar M. Morgan compiled this map of the Puget Sound region from surveys on file in 1875, stretching from Fidalgo Island in Whatcom County to the north to Tumwater in Thurston County in the south, Mt. Olympus in Mason County in the west to Fall City in King County to the east. The map covers portions of 10 counties (Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, Thurston, Pierce, King, Snohomish, Islands, and Whatcom), with lithograph illustrations of seven locations (La Connor, Seattle, Olympia, Port Discovery Mill, Tacoma Mill, Port Gamble, and Port Madison).

Written on map: Map of Puget-Sound, Washington Territory, 1875. Compiled from Surveys on file in Surveyor Gens Office by Edgar M. Morgan, Dep. U. S. Surveyor, Olympia, W.T., Scale 1 mile to 1/2 inch. Lith. Britton, Rey & Co., S.F.

Caption information source: "A Brief History of the General Land Office in Washington," excerpt from Surveying North of the River, by Jerry C. Olson (Second Edition, 2018), http://www.olsonengr.com/sites/default/files/surveying-history/files/briefhistory.pdf