General Land Office
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![This Bureau of Land Management map depicts the Public Domain Lands surveyed and platted under the auspices of the General Land Office to facilitate the sale of those lands.](/Images/godic/202501/15/Meridians-baselines1347.png")
![](/Images/godic/202501/15/Credit_Island_Iowa_18381347.jpg")
The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury. Starting with the passage of The Land Ordinance of 1785, which created the Public Land Survey System, the Treasury Department had already overseen the survey of the "Northwest Territory" including what is now the State of Ohio.