Reports:

Victor Hugo Woods was born February 13, 1868, in Signourney, Iowa. In 1873 the family moved to Mayfield, Santa Clara County and Woods began his education in the public schools. In 1883, he graduated from Mission High School in San Francisco. In 1883, at the age of 16, he spent the Fall and Spring working for the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Wyoming.

In 1902, Woods was elected Surveyor General of California and re-elected to that position in 1904.

On March 20, 1903, $5,000 was appropriated by the Legislature to furnish the Surveyor General's office with modern filing cabinets, bookcases and to make other necessary repairs. Woods' account of the manner in which the appropriation was spent gives the first tangible evidence of the appearance of the two offices - as well as the size of the State lands records at the turn of the century.

Woods died in San Francisco on June 10, 1947.

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