US Land Grid - Section Township Range

US Land Grid (http://www.uslandgrid.com) launched last week.  Our company provides section, township, range data, Texas survey data, PLSS, Oil & Gas Wells, free Web Mapping Services and other GIS datasets.

The GIS data on US Land Grid is based on trusted industry sources. It is available for instant download in multiple formats and projections. This includes shapefiles. Another unique twist is that we store data backups for you to download at a later date.  We also provide over 400+ Tax Parcels (ownership) with tax roll information and polgyons.

For more information - http://www.uslandgrid.com/blog.

Please enjoy a brief history of land and how it was formed below:

The Continental Congress was deeply in debt following the Declaration of Independence. Land grants were formed in areas similar to Texas and California in order to solve the situation.

The first step in opening land was to survey the entire area to be disposed of and assign a description to identify each parcel of land to be sold. The intent of the survey was to place the land that was being disposed of on a large grid with every square of the grid being individually identified. The numbers start from the intersection of the Meridian and Base lines. Those sections North or South along the Meridian are known as Townships and those along the East and West of the Base line are called Ranges. Combining the Township square number with the Range square number gives a precise location of any square on the grid. The grid below is an example of how the Sections within a Township are numbered. The black numbers are the sections within the township and the red numbers are the sections in the adjoining townships. As counties were formed from existing counties the county lines normally followed the section or township lines.

The PLSS was completed by the establishment of township and range lines. The General Land Office shows the theoretical sectioning of a standard survey township. Eighty chains constitute one U. They are the legally binding markers used for setting property lines and as such are the culminating work of any survey. Witness objects allow subsequent surveyors and landowners to find the original corner monument location should the actual monument itself 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. Trees could be used if the corner happened to fall at the exact spot where one grew. The purpose was simply to help retrace a surveyed line should that become necessary. Ten square miles of land on each side of the proposed rail track were granted for every one mile of completed railway.

The Public Land Survey System was utilized for measurement. Each odd numbered section going to the railroad company. Each even numbered section kept by the government. This created a checkerboard pattern along proposed rail way. The system was devised by Senator Stephen A. The remote nature of the land being surveyed certainly enabled the opportunity for fraud to occur in the direction that water drains.

PLSS rules of division are explained below. Today permanent monuments are usually inscribed tablets set on iron rods or in concrete. This line is perpendicular to the Principal Meridian. Further information on these irregular surveys can be found in the references listed at the end of this article. These lots frequently border water areas excluded from the PLSS. These lands were never part of the original public domain and were not subject to subdivision by the PLSS. Sometimes used interchangeably with Public lands. It is grid which overlays a map and within the grid are the sections which are between a specific township and range. You can find this from the tax parcel identification number.The ranges run horizontally along the map and the townships run vertically along the map. The returned position is for the center of the section.

Note that some meridians are quite small. The California BLM has a nice set of maps showing the Principal Meridians and Base Lines and the areas they cover. It does not include the east coast states including Kentucky and Tennessee or Texas. Small areas of other states that were settled before the survey also technically excluded. This explains the odd shapes of many mining claims in the west. Latter title transfers followed PLSS lines.

Actually it is more correct to say that the states were formed according to the areas covered by the Meridians. Some of these areas include several large states while others include only a small part of a single state. Some of the smaller areas were caused by changes in tribal reservations. These are called standard parallels. The position of the base line for each principal meridian is also historical and arbitrary. Others are altered by simple survey errors.