Commenting on the status of surveying projects, in an autograph letter, signed 3 May 1845, from Baton Rouge, to his brother Henry Waller, also a surveyor, at the Louisiana Surveyor General's office in Donaldson, Louisiana; also included in the letter are two passages written by Waller's mother, concerning plans for her visit.; Accompanied by contemporary manuscript copies of two 1849 letters to President Zachary Taylor, one from Henry Waller applying for the position of Surveyor General of Louisiana, the other a letter of recommendation for that post from Lt. Philip Hicky

Baton Rouge, LA, 1849. 4to. Six pages, total, approximately 750 words, in part: "I finished the survey for the Col. today; the old gentleman was in town at noon and I am obliged to lose a day in poring over the line with him and setting the corners (cedar or cypress posts) this I do on Monday: I go down to Dan. Hicky's monday afternoon and commence Desobrey's survey on Tuesday morning ... saw Scudder today who offered me $25 on account, which I accepted, and told him I would complete the plats very shortly." The Waller brothers were active as surveyors, primarily in the Baton Rouge Parishes, during the 1840s and 1850s; other surveying papers from their work are held at LSU in its Waller Survey Collection. Very good. Folded for mailing. An interesting lot of three items related to ante-bellum surveying in Louisiana. (#5640). (Inventory #: 59070)