Ord was in California when the gold rush struck, with its resultant skyrocketing of prices. Since the military salaries no longer covered living expenses, his commander suggested that the younger officers take on other jobs to supplement their income.
At about this time Los Angeles officials needed to have a survey of the public lands in order to sell them, and Ord was hired as the surveyor. He chose William Hutton as his assistant, and together the two mapped Los Angeles in July and August of 1849.
The Los Angeles City Archives has the original map produced by Hutton from Ord's survey.
Ord, Edward O.C. The City of the Angels and the City of the Saints;
Or, A Trip to Los Angeles and San Bernadino in 1856. San Marino:
Huntington Library, 1978.
Doheny Book Stacks; Special Collections F865.O65 1978b
Robinson, William W. Maps of Los Angeles, From Ord's Survey to the
End of the Boom of the Eighties. Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop,
1966.
UCLA
----. The Story of Ord's Survey, As Disclosed by the Los Angeles Archives. Los Angeles: Historical Society of Southern California, 1937. UC-Berkeley
In doing research on any of these individuals, or on the history of Los Angeles, remember two other oranizations: the Los Angeles City Archives and the Local History Collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. These two organizations are major sources of both published and unpublished information on the city.