The plan books for the First Municipal District, seven manuscript volumes, are all that have survived in the archives. They were apparently made by the Surveyor and used by the Auctioneer in selling the subject properties. The volumes are labelled "J.B. Walton, Auctioneer." Records show that Walton did indeed serve as City Auctioneer.

Since much of the data contained in these volumes is for non-municipal property, the possibility arises that they were used for purposes other than those directly associated with the City Auctioneer (i.e., to sell off city property in general and the McDonogh lands in particular). The volumes may have been continued in use by Walton (or others) in his regular business pursuits. There is also the possibility that the books were transferred to some other governmental agency--the Surveyor's Office, perhaps--and kept in use for official purposes.

Each map shows one square, giving lot subdivisions and measurements, names of owners of individual lots, value of the property, and, sometimes, names of purchasers, purchase price, and date of sale. Volume two includes an index map indicating the squares included in the volume. The square numbers assigned do not appear to correspond to square numbers now in use. In previous cataloging, the volumes were all dated 1860-1862; however, they appear to have continued in use through 1869.