Reddit reviews Chaining Oregon

There's no definitive book on the history of land surveying that I know of. Measuring America by Andrew Linklater does a pretty good job and covers a lot of the early history of Land Surveying. I also enjoyed Chaining Oregon by Kay Atwood, it looks at the begining of the Federal Survey system in Washington and Oregon States. It does a good job of showing the day to day workings of a Land Surveyor of the time. Drawing the Line is a history of the Mason-Dixon line, which as you probably know is one of the most well known Survey projects.