David H. Burr

Areas of the state were being rapidly developed in relation to industrialization and increased trade from the Erie Canal.

On January 9, 1852, the U.S. Senate resolved to employ a draughtsman to compile maps of the Federal Surveys that had been conducted.

He may have traveled to the Pacific Coast to prepare maps of the surveys that had been completed so far in California and the Washington and Oregon Territories.

[12] He was appointed the Surveyor General of Utah in 1855[2][b] and he and his sons, David Augustus (David A.-age 16) and Eugene (age 17) traveled overland from St. Louis,[13][self-published source][c] arriving in Salt Lake City (SLC) in late June or early July.

On August 30, 1856, Burr wrote to Thomas A. Hendricks, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, that one of his Deputy Surveyors had been badly beaten by a "Danite mob".

[16] The Burrs' work there was reportedly continually sabotaged by Mormons hostile to the Federal Government, and the house some of his men were staying within Fillmore was stoned by a mob.

He was accused of nepotism (not unwarranted), improficiency in his duties and abandoning his post and either resigned or was relieved of the position, but when the Federal Government sent the army to Utah in 1858, David A. returned to SLC in 1858 to turn over his father's surveying records to the territorial governor, trying to vindicate Burr's name.

[21] A large purchase from the store by the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Utah, Jacob Forney, in 1859 led to accusations of embezzlement and removal from his post.

Burr was also appointed to undertake the 1860 Utah census, but his unpopularity led to a clerk in his store given that duty.