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From: <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] Descriptions of TWP. good reading
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 12:30:09 EDT

A gentleman on my Craig list from Scotland was interested in what constituted
a Township over here, as opposed to Parishes in Scotland. This was sent by one
of the subscribers, and think it is worth printing and saving to refer to.
Pat

Source: Michigan State University, Integrative Studies in the Social Sciences
(ISS) 310, Spring 1997, Coursepack written by Dr. Alan Arbogast

(the discussion is on legal despcriptions)

(p. 10) "The U.S. Federal (or Public) Land Survey system (USFLS or USPLS) was
probably the most lasting and influential achievement of the pre-
Constitutional Confederation. The basic principles for the US Federal Land
Survey were established in the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the survey itself
commenced in that year. From its "point of beginning" where the Ohio River
crosses the western border of Pennsylvania, the survey extends westward to the
Aleutian Islands of Alaska and southward to Key West, Florida. The survey
ultimately has covered all the continental United States with the exception of
the original thirteen colonies, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and
parts of Ohio. Also, the survey was not implemented in inaccessible
locations, such as rugged mountains or swamps."

"Township and range block units are initiated by the intersection of a north-
south trending meridian, called the principal meridian, and an east-west
trending parallel called a base line."

"The basic geographic unit of the federal survey is the TOWNSHIP - a rectangle
(actually trapezoid) of approximately six miles on each side containing 36
sections of one square mile each. Townships are laid out as approximately
6-mile by 6-mile blocks. The one square mile sections usually equal about 640
acres."

(p. 15) "Farms and farming were directly and extensively influenced by the
USPLS rectangular survey..."

"In 1804 Congress reduced to 160 acres, or one-quarter of a section, the
minimum size of a parcel of land that could be purchased at a government land
office, and for reasons not entirely clear, the 160-acre plot, the quarter
section, came to be viewed as the ideal size for the family farm. This meant
that there would be four farms per section, each requiring access to a public
highway. The simplest and easiest way to attain this end was to provide a
road allotment along the section lines."

(p. 16) "The survey township often became the basic unit for a host of
purposes. Taxes were assessed and collected, data were collected for state
and federal censuses, election districts were established and elections held,
local road building was organized, and many other things were dependent on
this unit. But perhaps most significant of all was the part of the survey
township played in the establishment of common schools..."

(p. 16-17) "Here is a paragraph borrowed from something written in another
connection: 'No one will ever know how much the straight lines of the
rectangular surveys contributed to the public peace during the 19th Century.
Over five million farms were marked out on the public lands between 1800 and
1900. Had this been attempted under the loose and chaotic arrangements of the
metes and bounds system -- the crazy-quilt system of Virginia -- interior
America might have erupted in bloody land-boundary disputes so violent and
widespread as to make the Tennessee and Kentucky feuds seem minor local
disturbances. Robert Frost has told us that good fences make good neighbors.
He might also have told us that clean survey lines make for peaceful land
settlement.' "

I hope this helps! I do have other information about other legal systems used
as well as the Homestead Acts (and others) that were implemented. I thought
this was sufficient to give us all a good history lesson, and should really
help when doing research. Let me know if I can help any further.

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