Let's outline the process one might take to locate such property. I was working on my Goldenstein family, which had spent eight years on a homestead in Nebraska. I knew the Goldenstein family lived near Gothenburg, Nebraska, but I did not know the farm's exact location. These townships, actually referred to as Congressional townships, all have numbers assigned to them based upon their location with respect to base lines and prime meridians. Base lines and prime meridians were lines set by surveyors to aid in the surveying of unsettled and newly settled country.
Some states have multiple base lines and prime meridians.
These lines are long and in some cases run from across an entire state. Townships are then described according to their relative position to a base line and a meridian. A township will be either north or south of a base line and east or west of a meridian. A quick check of the Dawson County GenWeb site located a plat book from 1907. While the Goldensteins had left Dawson County by 1907, the map would help me locate their homestead's relative position to Gothenburg and other natural features.