Township/range

[+Two Geeks and a GPS]

My forum search might have helped if I remembered the name of the system from high school but......

Does the Township/range system have any correlation to GPS coordinates, and if so, where would I find such information?

The property we bought doesn't have boundary markers and I was hoping to work off the legal description (township/range) and use the GPS to project the corners. I know that one corner of the property is at the corner of two sections. So if I could find that spot, I could project using the distances on the legal description.

Or should I just pay a surveyor if I'm really that interested?

[+dino_hunters]

No, townships, ranges, and sections are NOT tied to Lat Long. However, if you use any topo map software, or topozone.com you should be able to get the cords for the section corners

[+Uncle T K]

PLSS (Public Land Survey System) Townships are number as follows

_____NORTH_____

6---5---4--3--2---1

7---8---9-10-11-12

18-17-16-15-14-13

19-20-21-22-23-24

30-29-28-27-26-25

31-32-33-34-35-36

 

Try finding the pin (Close to the middle of the road) for the corners for the township (sections 1-6-31-36) and working backwards to your land

 

If a concrete or blacktop road you will see a circle painted (Six inch)

Edited July 7, 2005 by Uncle T K

[Woodland Hiker]

I am no expert on Twnshp/range but I remember that some townships have "correction" lines that line up with a longitude and appears to squeeze the sections, making them not square to accomodate decrease in distance as you go northward. Don't know if this would be in the description. Interesting though. Perhaps in the future, descriptions will include Gps coordinates. Surveying has improved since these sections were origionally layed out, which causes confusion in how much land actually lays within the origional descriptions.

[+Uncle T K]

Hello Woodland Hiker

 

You are correct, every 24 miles north-south is a correction base line running east-west.

 

The north edge sections (6-5-4-3-2-1)and the west edge sections (6-7-18-19-30-31) can be adjusted as needed.

[+Two Geeks and a GPS]

What if the area in question is deep in the woods. will there still be a marker of some kind?

[+dkwolf]

It all depends. I would think all corners had been marked at some time, but way back in the olden days, marking a corner was digging a hole and placing a stone at the bottom of the hole. Some corners were marked with cedar stakes buried several feet--rather difficult to locate now, dig until you find mulch type of thing. Recent corners are usually set with an iron bar, usually 6"-1' below the surface. Your courthouse will have a record of the corner ties, which would include a description of the corner marker and when it was last surveyed.

[+dino_hunters]

out here in the west, there are many many places where there are no survey markers on section corners. sometimes the topo maps don;t even have sections drawn in on them.

 

Also, I've seen a lot of places where there are individual sections that contain 2 square miles, or 1/2 a square mile, instead of the usual 1. I've also seen townships that hold as few as 6 sections, instead of the usual 36. And this is without taken any correction lines into acount.

[dsandbro]

To find the PLSS (Public Land Survey System) corners in the forests look for 4" x 4" metal tags on trees about eye level. May be painted yellow or left metallic. They are called 'K-Tags'. A bonus donut to anyone who knows how they got that name.

 

There are some software programs that convert (sorta) a PLSS location to Lat/long and UTM. Uses interpolation from known corners and the interpolation algorithm produces errors in irregular shaped sections.

 

If anyone doesn't like the PLSS system, blame a guy named Thomas Jefferson (yeah THAT Tom Jefferson!). He thunk it up.

[dsandbro]

out here in the west, there are many many places where there are no survey markers on section corners. sometimes the topo maps don;t even have sections drawn in on them.

 

Also, I've seen a lot of places where there are individual sections that contain 2 square miles, or 1/2 a square mile, instead of the usual 1. I've also seen townships that hold as few as 6 sections, instead of the usual 36. And this is without taken any correction lines into acount.

On some topo maps look for a small red cross ( '+' ) along the section lines. Those are monumented corners.

 

You may see some real wacky townships like the 37 1/2 North in Nevada. Or an L shaped one in NW California. You may also see section numbers above 36 prefixed with a 'PB'. That means protracted boundary. It is unsurveyed but the lines are projected and the section is given a higher number to signify it is unofficial.