Standard atlas of Antrim County, Michigan : including a plat book of the villages, cities and townships of the county...patrons directory, reference business directory and departments devoted to general information / compiled and published by Geo. A. Ogle & Co.

SUPPLEMENT II.

UNITED STATES LAND SURVEYS

These lines are termed " Range 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 Range. Ranges are numbered from one upward, comm, cing at the Meridian; and their numbers are indicated by Roman
characters. For instance, the first division (or first six miles) west of the Meridian i0 Range I. West; the next is Range II. West; then comes Range III.,
IV., V., VI., VII., and so on, until the territory governed by another Principal Meridian is reached. In the same manner the Ranges East of the Meridian
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 L —e. These are designated as Township
Lines. They divide the land into strips or divisions six miles wide, extending East and West, parallel with the Base Line. This plan is followed both
North and South of the Base Line until the territory goverhed by another Principal Meridian and Base Line is reached. These divisions or Townships are
numbered from one upward, both North and South of the Base Line, and their numbers are indicated by figures. For instance: The first six mile division
n-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 Line; the Townships being designated as Township 1 South, Townshii 2 South, and so on. The f' North " or "South " (the
initials N. or S. being generally used) indicates the direction from the Base Line. See Diagram 3.
These Township and Range Lines, crossing each other, as showns in Diagram. 3, form squares, whisch are called "Townships" or " Government 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 laud. The location of a Government Township, however, is very readily found when the number of the Township and Range is given, by merely
counting the number indicated from the Base Line and Principal Meridian. As an example of this, Township 8 North, Range 4, West or tile 5thl Principal
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.

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TOWNSHIPS OF LAND.
OWNSHIPS are the largest sub) divisions of land run out by the
I 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 "Townshipping."
After the Township Corners have been carefully located,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 frequently made impossible by; (1st) the presence of lakes and large streams; A2nd) 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. Sections are numbered
consecutively from 1 to 36, as shown on
Diagram 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 and platted by the government surveyors. These Townships are
called Government Townships or Congressional Townships, to distinguish them from
Civil Townships o organized Townships,
as frequently the lines of organized Townships do not conform to the Government
Township lines.

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SECTIONS OF LAND. --- -.1 32 -
555|5.332. 3 3
TAGRAM 5 illustrates how a section
may be subdivided, although the.s —
Diagram only gives a few of the in.. ____
many subdivisions into which a, -
section may be divi-ed. All Sections
(except fractional Sections) are supposed to be 320 rods, or one mile, square and therefore
contain 640 acres-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. Each piece of land is described according to the portion of the section which it
embraces-as the Northeast quarter of Section 10; or the Southeast quarter of the Southeast
quarter of Section 10. Diagram 5 shows how many of these subdivisions are-platted, and also
shows the plan of designating and describing them by initial letters as each parcel of land on the
Diagram is marked with its description.
As has already been stated, all Sections (except Fractional Sections which are explained elsewhere) are supposed to contain 640 acres, and even though mistakes have been made in surveying,
as is frequently the case, making sections larger or smaller than 640 acres, the Government recognizes no variation, but sells or grants each regular section as containing 640 acres "more or less."
The Government Surveyors are not required to subdivide sections by running lines within
them, but they usually establish Quarter Posts on Section Lines on each side of a section at the
noints marked A. B. C. and D. on Diagram 5. After establishing Township corners, Section
__Lines are the next to be run, and section corners are established. When these are carefully
DIAGRAM 5. located the Quarter Posts are located at points as
nearly equidistant between Section Corners as
i possible. These corners when established by
Government Surveyors cannot be changed, even
though it is conclusively slhown that mistakes
have been made lwhich cause some sections or
9 N. E 1/* quarter sections to be either larger or smaller.. than others. The laws, however, of all the
Q States provide certain rules for local surveyors
< to follow in dividing Sections into smaller
160 A. parcels of land than has been outlined in the
A C 10. Governmental surveys. For instance, in divide0 c ing a quarter section into two parcels, the disfully measured and the new post is located at a
80 A. point equidistant between them. This plan is. N. WofS. followed in running out "eighties," "'forties,"
of SE.iE. 4 E- "twenties," etc. In this way, if the Govern2 0A.1 of S. E.-/' ment division overruns or falls short, each
S f portion gains or loses its proportion. This is.si. (20A.) 40 A. not the case, however, with Fractional Sections
SUBDIVIDING A SECTION. along the North or West sides of a Township,
or adjoining a lake or large stream.

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4 I F. B ABB I- - -W
-A M d, - - - - - -l L: -
t~ 12 FRACTIONAL PIECES OF LAND.
( ONGRESSIONAL Townships vary
considerably as to size and boundaries.
Mistakes made in surveying and the
fact that Meridians converge as they
run North cause every Township to vary
16 14 18 more or less from the 23,040 acres which a
perfect Township would contain. See
Diagran 4. In arranging a Township into
Sections all the surplus or deficiency of land
1_ 1 is given to, or taken from, the North and
West tiers of Sections. In other words, all
l Sections in the Township are made fullt 640 acres-except those on the North and
22 23 1e ~ 24 Vest, which are given all the land that is
It- lL * 4 left after forming the other 25 Sections.
I - 5*fTTM Diagram 4 illustrates how the surplus or
_ tt -deficiency is distributed and the Sections it.e olects. 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
27 26 26 8 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 "forties" or "eighties" that touch the
L -' 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
34 acreage and outlining the boundaries of
these "Fractions."
Diagram 6 illustrates how the surplus or
deficiency of land inside of these Sections is
distributed and which "for ies"or "eighties"
it affects. From this arrangement it willbe
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 smalir.
Frequently 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 courser
those portions of these Sections which are not affected by these variations are described in the usual
manner-as Southeast j of Section 6. As a rule Townships are narrower at the North than at the
South side. The Meridians of Longitude (which run North and South) cbnvergeas they run North
and South from the Equator. They begin at the Equator with a definite width between them and
graduallyconvergeuntiltheyall meet atthepoles. Now, as the Range liilesarerun North andSouth,
it will at once be seen that the convergence of Meridians will caue^ every Congressional Township
(North of the Equator) to be narrower at its North than at its South side, as stated. See Diagram
4. In addition to this fact, mistakes of measurement are constantly and almost unavoidably made
in runningboth Township and Range
lines, and if no new starting points
were established the lines would DI AGRAM 6.
become confused and unreliable, and 1 B'
the size and shape of Townships 4. LOT 3. OT?. LOT 1.
materially affected by the time the
surveys had extended even a hundred ' l 8o l 83 ai 80.5
miles from the Base Line and Princi- 62 AC. ACRES. ACRES ACRES.
pal iMeridian. In order to correct
the surveys and variations caused 53 R.
by the difference of latitude and LOT.
straighten the lines, "Correction.
Lines" (or Guide NMeridians and 20 C ~ A 80 ACRES.4
Standard Parallels) are established at ACRES.
frequent intervals, usually as followss:
North of the Base Line a Correction 58. I S R.
Line is run East and West parallel LOT 6. 160 Rods
with the Base Line, usually every A
twentv-four miles. South of the |32 AC. C
Base Line a Correction Line is usually 'E
established every thirty miles. Both 64 BR. - ) 160 ACRES.
East and West of the Principal LOT 7-. <
Meridian "Correction Lines" are 0
usually established every 48 miles. | 37 AC. a0
All Correction Lines are located by
careful measurement, and the suc- I 74 R 80 Rods 160 Rods.
ceeding surveys are based upon PLAT OP A FRACTIONAL SECTIOIN.
them.

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Entered According to Act of Congress, in the year 1909, by Geo. A. Ogle & Co., in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.

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