Public Land Survey System
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The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the surveying method used historically over the largest fraction of the United States to survey and spatially identify land parcels before designation of eventual ownership, particularly for rural, wild or undeveloped land. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system (although non rectangular methods such as meandering can also be used). The survey was “the first mathematically designed system and nationally conducted cadastral survey in any modern country” and has been cited as “an object of study by public officials of foreign countries as a basis for land reform.” Much of the actual surveying was done in the nineteenth century under a contract system managed by the General Land Office (GLO). Required and suggested survey methods changed over time, as described in a series of Instructions and Manuals issued by the GLO beginning in 1851, although the basic framework has remained substantially unchanged since the several experimental methods were first used in Ohio, the first state surveyed under the system the latest edition being the “The Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States, 20089989″ available from the U.S. Government Printing Office.
Commonly used terms
- Aliquot part: A terse, hierarchical reference to a piece of land, in which successive subdivisions of some larger area are appended to the beginning of the reference. For example, SW1/4 NW1/4 S13, T1SR20E refers to the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 13 of Township 1 South Range 20 East (a 40 acre parcel). See further discussion below.
- Baseline: A parallel of latitude, referenced to and established from a designated initial point, upon which all rectangular surveys in a defined area are based.
- BLM: Bureau of Land Management, the successor agency to the General Land Office
- Cadastral: Having to do with the boundaries of land parcels.
- Corner: The point of intersection of any two actual or potential survey lines, defining one corner of a rectangular land parcel.
- Lot: A subdivision of a section which is not an aliquot part of the section, but which is designated separately. A lot is typically irregular in shape and its acreage varies from that of regular aliquot parts.
- Initial point: The starting point for a survey; the intersection point of the Principal Meridian and the Base line in a given region.
- Land grant: Historically a land grant is an area of land to which title was conferred by a predecessor government, usually Spanish or Mexican, and confirmed by the U.S Government Courts after the territory was acquired by the United States.
- Monumentation: Placement and/or marking of physical objects on the ground to mark survey points and lines.
- PLSS: Public Land Survey System
- Original Survey The first official government survey in a given area. Unless fraud is proven, the original survey is legally valid and binding, regardless of any surveying errors that may have occurred. All subsequent subdivision, sale, etc. must proceed from the original survey. In the United States, most original surveys were done under contract with the General Land Office.
- Principal meridian (PM): A true meridian running through an initial point, which together with the baseline, form the highest level framework for all rectangular surveys in a given area. The list of all principal meridians is given below.
- Public domain: Land owned and managed by the Federal government. Synonymous with public lands. National Parks and National Forests are a large part of the public domain land today. The original public domain included the lands that were turned over to the Federal Government by the original 13 States, and areas acquired from the native Indian tribes or foreign powers.
- Range (Rng, R): A measure of the distance east or west from a referenced principal meridian, in units of six miles.
- Section: An approximately one-square-mile block of land. There are 36 sections in a survey township.
- Township (Twp, T): (1) Synonym for survey township, i.e., a square parcel of land of 36 square miles, or (2) A measure of the distance north or south from a referenced baseline, in units of six miles.
- Witness: Any marker set on the ground that marks or represents some other, nearby object or location of surveying importance, such as a corner. A bearing tree is a witness to a survey corner.[1]
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