The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a method used in the United States to survey and identify land parcels, particularly for titles and deeds of rural, wild or undeveloped land. Its basic units of area are the township and section. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system, although non rectangular methods such as meandering can also be used. It is also sometimes called the cadastral survey. A Township in the United States refers to a small geographic area, ranging in size from 6 to 54 square miles (15. ... Sectioning a township In U.S. land surveying, a section is an area nominally one mile square, containing 640 acres (2. ... The word meander has a number of senses. ... Cadastral is a term used in surveying and public administration, and refers to the division of land into units for surveying, taxation or administrative purposes. ...

Figure 1. This BLM map depicts the principal meridians and baselines used for surveying states (colored) in the PLSS.

Download high resolution version (1500x1037, 908 KB)BLM Map of Prinicipal Meridians and Baselines File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (1500x1037, 908 KB)BLM Map of Prinicipal Meridians and Baselines File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This BLM map depicts the principal meridians and baselines used in the surveyal of the United States. ...

History of the system

The system was created by the Land Ordinance of 1785. It has been expanded and slightly modified but continues in use in most of the states west of Pennsylvania, south to Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, west to the Pacific Ocean, and north into the Arctic in Alaska. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted on May 20, 1785 by the Congress formed by the Articles of Confederation. ... Official language(s) None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 33rd 119,283 km² 255 km 455 km 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 22nd 170 451 km² 260 km 800 km 17. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 30th 52,423 mi²/135,775 km² 190 mi/306 km 330 mi/531 km 3. ... Official language(s) English Capital Jackson Largest city Jackson Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 32nd 125,546 km² 275 km 545 km 3 30°13N to 35°N 88°7W to 91°41W Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 31st 2,697,243 23. ... The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border The Arctic is the u area around the Earths North Pole. ... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 1st 663,267 mi² / 1 717 854 km² 808 mi / 1300 km 1,479 mi / 2380 km 13. ...

Origins of the system

The original colonies (including their derivatives Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia) continued the British system of metes and bounds. This system describes property lines based on local markers and bounds drawn by humans, often based on topography. A typical, yet simple, description under this system might read "From the point on the north bank of Muddy Creek one mile above the junction of Muddy and Indian Creeks, north for 400 yards, then northwest to the large standing rock, west to the large oak tree, south to Muddy Creek, then down the center of the creek to the starting point." Betsy Ross purportedly sewed the first American flag with 13 stars and 13 stripes representing each of the 13 colonies. ... Metes and bounds is a system or method of describing land, real property (in contrast to personal property) or real estate. ...

Particularly in New England, this system was supplemented by drawing up town plats. The metes-and-bounds system was used to describe a town of a generally rectangular shape, 4 to 6 miles (6 to 10 km) on a side. Within this boundary, a map or plat was maintained that showed all the individual lots or properties. First Flag of New England, 1686-c. ... Main street in Bastrop, Texas, a small town In American English, a town is usually a municipal corporation that is smaller than a city but larger than a village. ... A contemporary plat map showing the location of a property for sale. ...

There are some difficulties with this system:

• Irregular shapes for properties make for much more complex descriptions.
• Over time, these descriptions become problematic as trees die or streams move by erosion.
• It isn't useful for the large, newly surveyed tracts of land being opened in the west, which were being sold sight unseen to investors.

In addition this system didn't work until there were already people on the ground to maintain records. In the 1783 Treaty of Paris recognizing the United States, Britain also recognized American rights to the land south of the Great Lakes and west to the Mississippi River. 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Painting by Benjamin West depicting John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin. ... The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. ... This article is about the river in the United States. ...

The Continental Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 and then the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 to control the survey, sale, and settling of the new lands. The original 13 colonies donated their western lands to the new Union, for the purpose of giving land for new states. These include the lands that formed the Northwest Territory, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi]]. The state that gave up the most was Virginia, whose original claim included most of the Northwest Territory and Kentucky, too. Some of the western land was claimed by more then one state, especially in the Northwest, where parts were claimed by Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, all three of which had claimed lands all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The Continental Congress is the label given to three successive bodies of representatives: The First Continental Congress met from September 5, 1774 to October 26, 1774. ... The NW ORdinace (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio, and also known as the Freedom Ordinance) was an act of the Continental Congress of the United States passed on July 13, 1787 under the Articles of Confederation. ... 1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and the Territory North West of the Ohio, was a government and region within the early United States. ... Official language(s) English Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 37th 104,749 km² 225 km 610 km 1. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 36th 109,247 km² 195 km 710 km 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 30th 52,423 mi²/135,775 km² 190 mi/306 km 330 mi/531 km 3. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 35th 110,862 km² 320 km 690 km 7. ...

Applying the system

The first surveys under the new rectangular system were in eastern Ohio in an area called the Seven Ranges. Ohio was surveyed in several major subdivisions, collectively described as the Ohio Lands, each with its own meridian and baseline. The early surveying, particularly in Ohio, was performed with more speed than care, with the result that many of oldest townships and sections vary considerably from their prescribed shape and area. Proceeding westward, accuracy became more of a consideration than rapid sale, and the system was simplified by establishing one major north-south line (principal meridian) and one east-west (base) line that control descriptions for an entire state or more. For example, a single Willamette Meridian serves both Oregon and Washington. County lines frequently follow the survey, so there are lots of rectangular counties in the Midwest and the West. Official language(s) None Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus (largest metropolitan area is Cleveland) Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 34th 116,096 km² 355 km 355 km 8. ... The Ohio Lands were the myriad grants, tracts, districts and cessions which make up what is now the U.S. state of Ohio. ... This BLM map depicts the principal meridians and baselines used in the surveyal of the United States. ... The location of the original Willamette Stone is now shown by the circular stainless steel marker west of Portland The Willamette Stone was a small stone obelisk originally located in the western hills of Portland, Oregon in the United States. ... Official language(s) None Capital Salem Largest city Portland Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 9th 255,026 km² 420 km 580 km 2. ... Official language(s) None Capital Olympia Largest city Seattle Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 18th 184,824 km² 385 km 580 km 6. ...

Non-PLSS regions

The system is in use in some capacity in most states, but not in Hawaii and Texas or any of the territory under the jurisdiction of the Thirteen Colonies at the time of indepedence, with the exception of the area that became the Northwest Territory and some of the Southern states. These exclusions are are now Georgia, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 28,337 km² n/a km 2,450 km 41. ... Official language(s) None. ... Betsy Ross purportedly sewed the first American flag with 13 stars and 13 stripes representing each of the 13 colonies. ... The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and the Territory North West of the Ohio, was a government and region within the early United States. ... Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 48th 14,371 km² 113 km 177 km 12. ... Official language(s) None Capital Dover Largest city Wilmington Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 49th 6,452 km² 48 km 161 km 21. ... Official language(s) English Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 37th 104,749 km² 225 km 610 km 1. ... Official language(s) None Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 39th 86,542 km² 305 km 515 km 13. ... Official language(s) None Capital Annapolis Largest city Baltimore Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 42nd 32,160 km² 145 km 400 km 21 37°53N to 39°43N 75°4W to 79°33W Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 19th 5,296,486 165... Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 44th 10,555 mi²; 27,360 km² 183 mi; 295 km 113 mi; 182 km 13. ... Official language(s) English Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 46th 24,239 km² 110 km 305 km 3. ... Official language(s) None defined, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 47th 22,608 km² 110 km 240 km 14. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 28th 139,509 km² 805 km 240 km 9. ... Official language(s) None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 33rd 119,283 km² 255 km 455 km 2. ... Official language(s) None Capital Providence Largest city Providence Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 50th 4,005 km² 50 km 65 km 32. ... Official language(s) English Capital Columbia Largest city Columbia Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 40th 82,965 km² 320 km 420 km 6 32°430N to 35°12N 78°030W to 83°20W Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 26th 4,012... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 36th 109,247 km² 195 km 710 km 2. ... Official language(s) None Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43th 24,923 km² 130 km 260 km 3. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 35th 110,862 km² 320 km 690 km 7. ... Official language(s) English Capital Charleston Largest city Charleston Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 41st 62,809 km² 210 km 385 km 0. ...

The old Cherokee lands in Georgia use the term section as a land designation, but does not define the same area as the section used by the PLSS. Cherokee County is a county located in the state of Georgia. ...

Major exceptions to the application of this system in the remaining states:

• California, before statehood in 1850, surveyed only the boundaries of Spanish land grants (ranchos); since statehood the PLSS system has been used throughout.
• Hawaii adopted a system based on the Kingdom of Hawaii native system in place at the time of annexation.
• Louisiana recognizes early French and Spanish descriptions, particularly in the southern part of the state, as well as PLSS descriptions.
• Maine uses a variant of the system in unsettled parts of the state.
• New Mexico uses the PLSS, but has several areas that retain original metes and bounds left over from Spanish and Mexican rule. These take the form of land grants similar to areas of Texas and California.
• Ohio's Virginia Military District was surveyed using the metes and bounds system. Areas in northern Ohio were surveyed with an earlier standard, often referred to as Congressional Survey townships, which are just five mile on each side instead of six. Hence, there are 25 sections per township there, rather than 36.
• Texas has a hybrid of its own early system, based on Spanish land grants, and a variation of the PLSS.

Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 402. ... Alta California (Upper California) was formed in 1804 when the province of California, then a part of the Spanish colony of New Spain, was divided in two along the line separating the Franciscan missions in the north from the Dominican missions in the south. ... Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 28,337 km² n/a km 2,450 km 41. ... Princess Kaiulani, a member of the Kalākaua Dynasty, was in line to become Queen of Hawaii when her kingdom was overthrown by a small group of Hawaiian citizens (primarily of European descent) and United States citizens. ... Official language(s) English and French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans at last census; probably Baton Rouge since Hurricane Katrina Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 31st 134,382 km² 210 km 610 km 16 29°N to 33°N 89°W to 94°W Population... Official language(s) None Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 39th 86,542 km² 305 km 515 km 13. ... Official language(s) None, English and Spanish de facto Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 5th 315,194 km² 550 km 595 km 0. ... Official language(s) None Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus (largest metropolitan area is Cleveland) Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 34th 116,096 km² 355 km 355 km 8. ... The Virginia Military District was an approximately 4. ... Official language(s) None. ...

Mechanics

Figure 2. This General Land Office diagram shows the theoretical sectioning of a standard survey township.

Download high resolution version (694x751, 70 KB) SOURCE: http://www. ... Download high resolution version (694x751, 70 KB) SOURCE: http://www. ... The General Land Office, a former agency of the United States government, was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury relating to the public domain. ... Survey township, sometimes called Congressional township, as used by the United States Public Land Survey System, refers to a square unit of land, that is nominally six (U.S. Survey) miles (~9. ...

Survey design and protocol

The surveying of any regional area is a multi-step process. First, two controlling survey lines are established for some relatively large area: a baseline, which runs east-west and a Principal Meridian, which runs north-south (Fig. 1). These two lines pass through, and intersect at, a location known as an initial point. Next, at a defined distance interval, commonly 24 or 30 miles depending on the year and location, standard parallels are established parallel to the baseline. The meridian, baseline and standard parallels thus established form a lattice upon which all further surveying is then based. Subsequent work divides the land into survey townships of roughly 36 square miles (~93 km²) or 6 miles (~9.7 km) on each side. This is done by the establishing township and range lines, which run parallel to the baseline and principal meridian, respectively, at six mile intervals. Lastly, townships are subdivided into 36 sections of one square mile (640 acres, ~2.6 km²) and 144 quarter-sections of 0.25 square mile (160 acres, ~0.65 km²) each. (See here for descriptions and figures illustrating the system). The federal government typically surveys only to the quarter-section level; smaller parcels are usually surveyed later by private surveyors if necessary. This BLM map depicts the principal meridians and baselines used in the surveyal of the United States. ... Survey township, sometimes called Congressional township, as used by the United States Public Land Survey System, refers to a square unit of land, that is nominally six (U.S. Survey) miles (~9. ... (For general information about sections in the MediaWiki software, see m:Help:Section. ...

The townships and sections are indexed based on the township's position relative to the intitial point and the section's location within the designated township. Township, range and section are abbreviated as T, R and S, respectively, and cardinal bearings from the initial point by N, S, E, and W, and each principal meridian has its abbreviation. Thus, for example, T1SR20ES13 MDM refers to: Township 1 South, Range 20 East, Section 13, Mount Diablo Meridian, or the 13th section in the first township south of the baseline and 20th township east of the principal meridian. The sections within a township are numbered boustrophedonically (Fig. 2). Starting in the northeast corner, sections in the first row (sections 1-6) are numbered east to west, those in the second row (sections 7-12) are numbered west to east, the direction continuing to alternate with each row, until section 36 is reached in the southeast corner. Distances are measured in statute miles, which are equal to eighty Gunter's chains, the standard unit of length used in surveying; these differ from standard metric-referenced miles by a few millimeters. The importance of the PLSS is one of the many barriers to metrication of property title in the United States.) Boustrophedon is an ancient way of writing manuscripts and other inscriptions in which, rather than going from left to right as in modern English, or right to left as in Arabic, alternate lines must be read in opposite directions. ... A mile is a unit of distance (or, in physics terminology, length) currently defined as 5,280 feet, 1,760 yards, or 63,360 inches. ... As a unit of measurement within the Imperial system, the chain (surveyors chain, Gunters chain) is defined as 22 yards, 66 feet, or four rods. ... The International System of Units (symbol: SI) (for the French phrase Syst me International dUnit s) is the most widely used system of units. ... Speedometer gauges on a car showing the speed of the vehicle in miles and kilometres per hour. ...

Figure 3. The engraved cap on a corner monument pipe, in western Yosemite National Park, placed in 1905 during the Park boundary resurvey

The intersection of a township line with a range line is called a township corner, of a section line with another section, township or range line a section corner, and a point halfway between two section corners a quarter corner. At each such corner, a corner monument is established to mark the location of the corner on the ground. This monument is the legally binding mark used for setting property lines as the land is sold off and/or settled; it is the culminating work of the entire survey. As with most surveying specifications, those for the corners have changed over time. In the 19th century, the monuments were commonly a rock pile, a wooden post, or a combination of the two. Trees were also sometimes used when available. In the 20th century, steel pipes with caps, supported by mounds of rock, became required (e.g. Fig. 3). Monuments are always witnessed to by the marking of other nearby natural objects on the ground. These witnesses can be trees, rocks or trenches dug in the ground; the exact locations of the witness objects, and the markings made on them, are recorded in the surveyor's official field notes. Witness trees are commonly referred to as bearing trees, and they are highly important, not just for their legal purposes, but also for their use by ecologists in the estimation of historic forest vegetation conditions. The witness objects are designed to allow subsequent surveyors and landowners to find the original corner monument location should the actual monument be destroyed. It was not uncommon for squatters or homesteaders to destroy corner monuments if they felt the patenting of the land would threaten their residence on it. For this reason, destruction of corner monuments or their witness objects is a federal offense. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1260x1536, 224 KB) Summary Photo by Jim Bouldin Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1260x1536, 224 KB) Summary Photo by Jim Bouldin Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... This is a list of ecologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. ... A dense growth of softwoods (a forest) in the Sierra Nevada Range of Northern California A forest is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, a wooded area set aside for hunting). ... Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants, and is, by far, the most abundant biotic element of the biosphere. ... This article is about occupying land without permission. ... A homestead is: A farm with the buildings around it, see homestead (buildings) Ones legal residence, see homestead (law) An area measure of 160 acres (650,000 m²), see homestead (area) and Homestead Act To homestead is to establish ownership of previously unowned property (usually but not exclusively land...

Figure 4. Kent County, Michigan in 1885 as a PLSS example, showing 16 named townships and sectional subdivisions.

Because the grid is rectangular and the earth is round, adjustments must be made periodically; all sections cannot be one square mile nor all townships 36 square miles. These adjustments are done within each township by starting the sectional surveys of the township in the southeast corner and moving progressively toward the northwest corner. The northernmost and westernmost tier of sections--11 in all--are allowed to deviate from one square mile, but the other 25 are not. This method accommodates the curvature effects, and also allows for the correction of errors made during the surveying--which were not uncommon--without overly compromising the rectangular nature of the system. 1885 Kent County Michigan USA map illustrating township-section system Includes towns, townships, lakes, etc. ... 1885 Kent County Michigan USA map illustrating township-section system Includes towns, townships, lakes, etc. ... Kent County is a county located in Michigan, United States. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Understanding property descriptions

The description of a particular ten acre (40,000 m²) parcel of land under this system would be given as NW1/4 SW1/4 SE1/4 SEC 22 T2S R3E. The elements of such descriptions are interpreted from right to left, so we are describing a plot of land in the township that is the third east of the Range Line (R3E) and the second south of the base line (T2S). We are also looking at section 22 in that township (refer to the grid above). Next that section is divided into quarters (160 acres each), and we should be in the SE quarter section. That section is divided again in quarters (40 acres) and the description calls for the SW quarter. Last in this description, it is quartered again (into 10 acre plots) at we want the NW quarter.

So, in language, the example plot is the NW quarter of the SW quarter of the SE quarter of section 22 of the township that is the second south of the base line and the third east of the range line. Some descriptions will use other references such as S½ to refer to the south half of a quarter section. As an area became settled a township and county name might replace the range and base line numbers, but they can always be traced backwards.

Some western states have only one base line. (Notice that these states have straight line borders to the north or south.) This means that all the townships in the state are either north or south. They also typically only one principal meridian. (For examples, the Kansas range line is 97° west of Greenwich). In the Maine variant of the system, the range line is called the "Eastern Limit of Settlement"; all ranges are to the west of this line, and are normally written Rx WELS. Official language(s) None Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 15th 82,277 mi²; 213,096 km² 211 mi; 340 km 400 mi; 645 km 0. ... Location of the Prime Meridian Prime Meridian in Greenwich The Prime Meridian is the meridian (line of longitude) passing through the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Greenwich, England; it is the meridian at which longitude is 0 degrees. ...

Sizes of PLSS subdivisions

Table 1. Some distance and area conversions in the PLSS

Social impact

Education

Under the 1785 act, section 16 of each township was set aside for school purposes, and as such was often called the school section. (Section 36 was also frequently used as a school section.) The various states and counties ignored, altered or amended this provision in their own ways, but the general (intended) effect was a guarantee that local schools would have an income and that the community schoolhouses would be centrally located for all children. An example of land allotments made specifically for higher education is Ohio's College Township. The College Township was the full survey township located in the northwest corner of Butler County, Ohio, now corresponding to the civil township of Oxford, designated by the Ohio General Assembly to be the site of the state university now called Miami University. ...

Urban design

As roads have typically been laid out along section boundaries spaced one mile apart, growing urban areas have adopted road grids with mile-long "blocks" as their primary street network. Such roads in urban areas are known as arterials, usually designed primarily for automobile travel and limited in their use for nonmotorized travel. In post-World War II suburbs, commercial development has largely occurred along and at intersections of arterials, while the rest of the former square-mile sections have generally filled with residential development, as well as schools, religious facilities, and parks. Occasionally, and more frequently in a metropolitan region's inner postwar suburbs than in outer areas, arterials are located at approximately half-mile intervals. This strictly regimented urban (or suburban) structure has coincided with the similarly strict practice of Euclidean zoning, in which use of a property is dictated and regulated by zoning district, the boundaries of which often being derived from locations of arterials. An arterial road is a high-capacity road which is just below a highway level of service. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945. ... When the word metropolitan (from the Greek metera = mother and polis = town) is used as an adjective, as in metropolitan bishop, metropolitan France, or metropolitan area it can mean: of or characteristic of a metropolis; see also metropolitan area, Metropolitan Police, Metropolitan Railway of or belonging to the home territories... It has been suggested that Suburbia be merged into this article or section. ... Euclid is a city located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ... In general, zoning is the division of an area into sub-areas, called zones. ...

Popular culture

The land system is an important part of American history and culture. Among other things, the stock phrases "lower 40", "front 40", "back 40", and "40 acres and a mule," which are sometimes heard in American movies, reference the quarter-quarter section. The "lower 40" in a quarter-section is the one at lowest elevation, i.e. in the direction that water drains. The "lower 40" is frequently the location of or the direction of a stream or a pond. The latter phrase was the compensation apocryphally promised by the Freedman's Bureau following the American Civil War. Homesteading, another staple of American western culture, was also dependent on the Public Land Survey System. In the original Homestead Act of 1862, during the Lincoln Administration, each settler was allocated 160 acres of land; in other words, a quarter-section. Later amendments of the Homestead Act allocated more land, as much as 640 acres; in other words, a section. This was a good revision to apply to land that was drier and/or more desolate than the earlier, more desirable lands already settled. Many times, this land was more suited to ranching than to farming. 40 acres and a mule is the colloquial term for compensation that was to be awarded to freed American slaves after the Civil War—40 acres (16 ha) of land to farm, and a mule with which to drag a plow so the land could be cultivated. ... Categories: American cinema | Cinema by country ... The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, popularly known as the Freedmens Bureau or (mistakenly) the Freedmans Bureau, was an agency of the government of the United States that was formed to aid distressed refugees of the United States Civil War, including former slaves and poor white... The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a civil war between the United States of America, called the Union, and the Confederate States of America, a new country formed by eleven Southern states that declared their independence and claimed the right of secession from the Union. ... The Homestead Act of 1862 is a piece of U.S. legislation which gave one quarter of a section of a township (160 acres, or about 65 hectares) of undeveloped land in the American West to any family head or person that was at least 21 years of age, provided... Great Basin region, typical American West The Western United States has played a significant role in history and fiction. ... The Homestead Act of 1862 is a piece of U.S. legislation which gave one quarter of a section of a township (160 acres, or about 65 hectares) of undeveloped land in the American West to any family head or person that was at least 21 years of age, provided... For other uses of the name Abraham Lincoln, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation) Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was the 16th President of the United States (1861 to 1865), and the first president...

References

• Andro Linklater, Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy, New York: Walker & Co., 2002. ISBN 0802713963 (softbound ISBN 0452284597) (Describes the history and social context of the PLSS and some of the political maneuvering that went into its creation.)
• Payson J. Treat. The National Land System, 1785-1820. New York: E.B. Treat, 1910 (Reprinted in 1967 and 2003) ISBN 1575887975
• C. Albert White. A History of the Rectangular Survey System. Washington: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management : For sale by Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1983
• Curt Meine. Correction Lines: Essays on Land, Leopold, and Conservation. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2004.

See also

• Benson Syndicate
• Dominion Land Survey (Canada)
• General Land Office
• Surveying

The Benson Syndicate was an organized crime organization in the western United States involved with General Land Office land surveying fraud, and headed by one John A Benson, a former school teacher and a deputy land surveyor. ... The Dominion Land Survey is the method used to divide most of western Canada into one-square-mile sections for agricultural and other purposes. ... The General Land Office, a former agency of the United States government, was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury relating to the public domain. ... Surveyor at work with a leveling instrument. ...

External links

• American Congress on Surveying & Mapping
• National Geodetic Survey
• National Society of Professional Surveyors
• TRS data to latitude/longitude calculator
• www.resurvey.org
• U.S. Geological Survey
• Researching New Mexico Land Grants
• The New Mexican: "Land-grant issues loom large for lawmakers this session"
• IIC Minnesota Historical Vegetation
• The Minnesota Bearing Tree Database