Page II

UNITED STATES LAND SURVEYS
£IIPPLEMf 14W' II.
Thesellnes ae termed "fange Lines." They divide the land into strips
or divisions six miles wide, extending North and South, parallel with the
Meridian.
Each division is called a     .   auges are numbered from one upward, commt
cing at the Meridian; and their numbers are indicated by Roman
charars. For instance, the first division (or first six milese west of the
Meridian iho Range L West; the next is Range IL West; then comes Range III.,
IV., V., VL, VII., and soon, until the territory governed by another Principal
Meridian is reached. In thesam manner the Ranges East of the  eridian
are numbered, the words East or West being always used to indicate the direction
from the Principal Meridian. See Diagram 3.
   'Commencing at the Base Line, at intervals of six miles, lines are run
East and West parallel with the Base i-ne. These are deignated as Township
Lines. They divide the land into strips or diviasings six miles wide, extending
East and West, parallel with the Base Line. This plan is followed both
North and South of the Bas Line until the territory governed by another Principal
Meridian and Base Line is reached. These divisions or Townships are
numbered from one upward, both North     South ofthe Base Line, and their
numbers are indicated by figures. For instance: The first six mile division
i-orth of the Base Line is Township 1 North; the next is Township 2 North;
then comes Township 3, 4, 5, and 6, North, and so on. The same plan is
followed South of the Base NLe; fte Townships being designated as Township
1 South, Township 2 South, and so on. The "North" or ""
South" (the
initials N. or S. being generally used) indicat the direction from the Base
Line. See Diagram 3.
    These Township and Ronge Liecosnecohr          ahwi       igaafr squares,
which are called "Townships" or "1Government Townships,"
which are six miles square, or as nearly that as it is possible to make them.
These Townships are a very important feature in locating or describing a
piece
of land. The location of a Govrnment Township, however, is very readily found
when the number of the Township and Range is given, by erely
counting the number indicated from the Base Line and Principal Meridian.
As an example of this, Township 8 North, Range 4, West of the .Vth Pincipal
Meridian, is at once located on the square marked * on Diagram 3, by counting
eight tiers north of the Base Line and 4 tiers west of the Meridian.
     TOWNSHIPS OF LAND.
  p OWNSHIPS are the largest sub-
        divisions of land run out by the
        United States Surveyors. In the
        Governmental Surveys Township
Lines are the first to be run, and a Township
Corner is established every six miles and
marked. This is called "Tow8hipping."
After the Township Corners have been care-
fullylocated,the Section and Quarter Section
Corners are established. Each Township is
six miles square and contains 23,040 acres,
or 36 square miles, as near as it is possible
to make them. This, however, is fre-
quentl, made impossible by. (1st) the pres-
       lakes andlarge Atreams; f2nd) by
State boundaries not falling exactly on
Township Lines; (3rd) by the convergence
of Meridians or curvature of the earth's
surface; and (4th) by inaccurate surveys.
   Each Township, unless it is one of the
exceptional cases referred to, is divided
into 36 squares, which are called Sections.
These Sections are intended to be one
mile, or 320 rods, square and contain 640
acres of land. Sectionr are numbered
consecutively from 1 to 36, as shown on
Dal      4. Beginning with Section 1 in
the Northeast Corner, they run West to
6, then East to 12, then West to 18, and
so on, back and forth, until they end with
Section 36 in the Southeast Corner.
   Diagram 4 shows a plat of a Township
as it is divided andplatt by the govern-
ment surveyors. TI       Townships are
called Government Townships or Congre
sional Townships, to distinguish them
Oivil Townships or organized Townships,
as frequently the lines of organized Town.
ships do not conform to the Government
Township lns
SECTIONS OF LAND.
TAGRAM 5 illustrates how a section
may be subdivided, although the
Diagram only gives a few of the
many subdivisions into which a
DIBGRAM
section may be aivided.    An   Sections
(except fractional Sections) are supposed to be 320 rods, or one mile, square
and therefore
contain 640acres--a number easily divisible. Sections are subdivided into
fractional parts to suit
the convenience of the owners of the land. A half.section contains 320 acres;
a quarter-section
contains 160 acres; half of a quarter contains 80 acres, and quarter of a
quarter contains 40 acres,
and so on. Each1iece of land is described according to the portion of the
section which it
embraces-as the ortheast quarter of Section 10 ; or the Southeastqua=rter
of the Southeast
quarter of Section 10. Diagram 5 shows how many of these subdivisions are
platted, and also
,owe the plan of desigating and describing them m ~by initial letters as
each parcel of land on the
Diagrm is marked wih its cescition.
    .As has already been stated, aSections (except Fractional Sections which
are explained else-
                        ~~~itkshave been madeinsreng
whe)     e supposed to contain 640 acres, and even though        hein surveying,
asia freuentlv the case, making sections larger or smaller than 640 acres,
the Government recog-
section as containing 640 acres "more or less."
to subdivide sections by running lines within
Section Lines on each side of a section at the
After establishing Township corners, Section
Lines are the next to be run, and section cor-
ners are established. When these are carefully
located the Quarter Posts are located at points as
nearly equidistant between Section Cornersas
possible. These corners when established by
government Surveyors cannot be changed, even
though it is conclusively shown that mistakes
havebeen made which cause some sections or
quarter sections to be either larger or smaller
than others. The laws, however, of all the
States provide certain rules for local surveyors
to follow in dividin Sections into smaller
r       of land than h   been outlined in the
    vaeruental sureys. For instance, in divid-
 ing a quarter section into two parocls, the dil-
 ance between the Government Corpnrs Is care-
 ly m      ured and the new post is located at a
 point eq    stant between them. This plan is
 o       in runni   out "eighties," "forti,"
 "6twenties" etc. Un this way, fi the Govern-
 ment divisim  overruons or falls short, each
 portion gan   rlssispoportion. Thus is
 not the case, however, with Fractional Sections
 along the North or West sides of a Township,
 or *ajoii-  a lake or large stream.
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FRACTIONAL PIECES OF LAND.
ONGRESSIONAL Townships vary
      considerably as to size and boundaries.
1     Mistakes made in surveying and the
      fact that Meridians converge as they
run North cause every Township to vary
more or less from the 23,040 acres which a
ferfect Township   would  contain.  See
Dagram 4. In arranging a Township into
Sections all the surplus or deficiency of land
is given to, or taken from, the North and
West tiers of Sections. In other words, all
Sections in the Township are made full-
640 acres-except those on the North and
West, which are given all the land that is
left after forming the other 25 Sections.
   Diagram 4 illustrates how the surplus or
defiojency is distributed and the Sections it
P.2ecta. It will be seen that Sections 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 18, 19, 30 and 31, are the
"Fractional Sections," or the Sections
which are affected if the Township overruns
or falls short. Inside of these Fractional
Sections, all of the surplus or deficiency of
land (over or under 640 acres) is carried to
the "1forties" or "eighties" that touch the
Township Line. These pieces of land are
called "Fractional Forties" or "Fractional
Eighties," as the case may be. Diagrams 4
and 6 show the manner of marking the
acreage and outlining the boundaries of
these I" Fractions."
    Diagram 6 illustrates how the surplus or
deficiency of land inside of these Sections is
distributed and which "forties"or "eighties"
            ~it affects." From this arrangement it-will be
seen that in any Section that touches the North or West Township Lines, the
Southeast Quarter may
be full-160 acres-while another quarter of the same Section may be much larger
or smallar.
Freuently these fractional "forties" or "eighties" are
lotted as shown in Diagram 6. They are
always described as fractional tracts of land, as the "" fractional
S.W. of Section 6,"etc. Of course
those portions of these Sections which are not affected by these variations
are described in the usual
manner--as Southeast of Section 6. As a rule Townships are narrower at the
North than at the
South side. The Meridians of Longtude (which run North and outh) converge
as they run North
and South from the Equator. They begin at the Equator with a definite width
between them and
gradually converge until they all meet at the poles. Now, as the Range lines
are run North and South,
it will at once be seen that the convergence of Meridians will caEnu every
Congressional Township
(North of the Equator) to be narrower at its North than at its South side,
as stated. Sm Diagram
4. In addition to this fact, mistakes of measurement are constantly and almost
unavoidably made
in running both Townshipand Range
lines, and if no new starting points
were established the lines would                      DIAGRAX       6.
become confused and unreliable, and            3.
the size and shape of Townships            LoT S.    Lox ,.     LOT s.  
  LoT 1.
materially affected by the time the         A
surveys had extended even a hundred         a          as     0   83    
0   6o.5
milesfrom the Base Line and Princi-        62 AC. gACRES.      ACRES.   
  ACRES.
pal Meridian. In order to correct
the surveys and variations caused           53 .      _
by the difference of latitude and          LoT 5.
straighten the lines, "Correction
ines" (or Guide Meridians and              2AC.        480 ACRES. 0
Standard Parallels) are established at              ACRES. 2
frequent intervals, usually as follows:
North of the Base Line a Correction         eO  at     o             1.
Line is run East and West parallel
with the Base Line, usually every
twenty-four miles.  South of the
Base Line a Correction Line is usually
established every thirty miles. Both        e160 ACRES.
East and West of the Principal            Z     e
Meridian "Correction Lines" are                        0
usually established every 48 miles.     t 87 AC.
All Correction Lines are loated by
careful measurement, and the suc-             "        Roos
seeding surveys are   based upon           PLAT OF A     FRACTIONAL B3C1IONX
them.
SCa            tm, lte~ esm, by G;;    AA.Oe & C., In Cth offc d the
a au c Ccagre at Vuahiatba, D. C.
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