Each range is indicated as lying either east or west of the principal meridian, and the range numbers increase as they move away from the principal meridian.įor example, the first column of townships to the right of the 5 th PM, shown on Map 2, is range 1 east. (The 5th PM and its baseline are also shown on Map 1 above.) Each orange square on Map 2 is a township, and each column of townships is a range six miles wide. The intersection of these two lines form the initial point of the 5th PM. It was set by the same act of Congress as a line of latitude running east-west through the mouth of the St. The baseline of the 5th PM is the blue line shown on Map 2. Congress as a line of longitude running north-south through the mouth of the Arkansas river. The 5th PM is shown as the red line on Map 2 below. Bureau of Land Management (click to enlarge) Townships and RangesĪrkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and North Dakota, part of western Minnesota, and the eastern half of South Dakota are all surveyed from the initial point of the Fifth Principal Meridian (5th PM). The public land survey system has since been used by the federal government to survey the entirety of thirty states, as shown on Map 1. His team surveyed seven ranges heading due west for 42 miles. In that same year, Hutchins’ team began the first survey under this new system at the intersection of the Ohio river with the western boundary line of the state of Ohio, depicted by the red dot on Map 1 below. In 1785, Congress appointed Thomas Hutchins as the chief geographer of the United States. The United States wasted no time implementing the public land survey system. The public land survey system stacks the townships atop each other in a north-south direction, forming columns six miles wide. The public land survey system provided a solution by dividing large swaths of land into 6 mile x 6 mile squares, called townships, and by dividing each township into thirty-six 1 mile x 1 mile squares, called sections. But they needed a way to divide that vast area into small uniform parcels that could be sold to individuals. debt by selling some of the land it had just acquired from Great Britain. Back then, the United States was deep in debt (sound familiar) from the expenses it incurred fighting for independence from Great Britain. The public land survey system was created by the United States Continental Congress’ Land Ordinance of 1785.
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