In 1815, President Madison ordered the official survey of the Louisiana Territory to establish a system for distributing land as payment to veterans of the War of 1812. Commissioned by the United States Government, Prospect K. Robbins and Joseph C. Brown set out to establish an initial point in eastern Arkansas from which other surveys would originate. Robbins set a permanent north-south Fifth Meridian line while Brown surveyed an east-west baseline, and their junction represented the initial point. Brown's party started westward the same day Robbins began north, and the Initial Point was established on November 10, 1815, when the Robbins party crossed the baseline 26 miles west of the Mississippi River. The site was described as low and containing cypress, briers, and thickets in abundance. The baseline was extended west in 1818, eventually crossing south of Little Rock, and today Baseline Road follows part of it. The Fifth Meridian continued north and provided an orientation for the survey of Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. The Louisiana Territory more than doubled the size of the United States, and President Jefferson called its purchase "a transaction replete with blessings to unborn millions of men."