The Land Department record group comprises one of the largest record groups in the CB&Q Railroad Company Records. It also contains some of the widest varieties of types of materials, including correspondence, reports, maps, plats, promotional material, ledgers, legal and financial volumes, contracts, applications, and some drawings. The Record Group begins with correspondence to and from Colonel H.B. Scott, who managed the combined B&MRR – Iowa and B&MRR – Nebraska land departments and corresponded prodigiously with individual land owners, CB&Q agents in the field, and real estate agents. There are circulars and letters also with Foreign agencies, mostly English but also representing other countries and groups in Europe. The two previously separate Land Agencies – the B&MRR-Iowa and B&MRR-Nebraska - make up the last two subgroups and include more specific records on land purchases, including land examination reports by field agents, plats and maps showing ownership of land, applications for land deeds, and correspondence between CB&Q and land purchasers/examiners for delinquent accounts.

Forms part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records.

This finding aid supersedes the Guide to the Burlington Archives in the Newberry Library, 1851-1901 (Chicago: Newberry Library, 1949), and incorporates subsequent additions to the company records. Certain materials have been deaccessioned and donated to the Burlington Route Historical Society; see curator for details.