Evening star., 1914-12-10
tribal and general allotments of specific
tracts of land in fee.

tribal and general allotments Of specific
tracts of land in fee.
The second step in opening the pub
lie lands for settlement consisted of
the survey. The
Surveys Run starting point or
From Meridians. ims.anna uase ,lme IN me eacn
true north and south line or meridian.
This meridian was established with
reference to the whole body of land
which was to be surveyed and the
whole was constituted as one or more
land districts, according to the total
quantity and the contour and location
Of the component parts. Each land dis
trict was divided into ranges by lines
parallel to the principal meridian.
These lines were six miles apart, and
the ranges were numbered east or west
of the meridian. Each land district was
thus divided into strips six miles wide
and as long, running north and south,
as the length of the land district.
The ranges were then divided by
lines running east and west into
squares which measured six miles on
each side, and thus contained thirty
six square miles. These squares were
denominated townships and were still
further subdivided into parcels of a
mile square. called sections. giving
thirty-six sections to a township. Each
Of the sections was divided into quar-
ters- Prior to 1920 no smaller subdivi-
sion than a section was made, and in
that year the quarter section. which
has been the unit of grant for most
of the public land. was established.
The quarter section Is, therefore, a
square of land measuring quarter of
a mile on each side and containing 100
acres Further subdivision for con-
venience of private transfer and for
fractional surveys seemed desirable In
1882. and quarter quarter sections were
tanning forty acres.
It is a familiar fact that lines rep
resenting north and south directions
cannot be drawn as
Best description parallels. since me-
e.rl r:A1 ridians converge so
ava as to meet at the
north and south poles. This has the
effect of making a slight decrease in
the width of the northerly part of a
range, the difference becoming more
marked as the lines go north For con-
venience. all the differences are thrown
into the north and west quarter sec
tions of each township and these sec
tions. with those including lakes and
rivers are laid off into fractional di-
visions subject to special descriptions.
With these exceptions, all land de-
scriptions in the former public domains
of the United States are uniform in
their character, and description as a
given quarter of quarter section of a
township of range of a land district
is more effective for purposes of iden-
tihcation and conveyance than any de-
vice that mankind has previously used
for the description of land
The execution of the trust undertake
en- by the United States so to admins
ter the public domain as to secure its
veloped system of Jurisprudence
known as the land laws of the United
States Several characters of grants
have developed. States which have
cal affairs of the population have re-
ceived extensive grants to enable them
to establish school systems and to
found and support agricultural col
legeS.
AS communication was an essential
other railroads and even wagon roads
were assisted by grants of alternate
sections along the right of way. The
grants to states for the restraint of
flowed lands have already been noted.
Military service in the wars of the
United States has been compensated
by grants of lands or by preference
under pre-emption or homestead laws.
The distinctive feature of the public
land system of the United States, how
ever, has been
New Scheme tn e encourage
~. ment given the
had nothing but his own labor to es-
tablish himself as a land owner and
an asset of national wealth. The early
statutes made cultivation and improve
ment through a term of years the con-
dition of a grant, and later the sales
at little more than nominal prices
were made conditional on actual use
of the land.
The tenor of the land laws of the
United States during the period of the
existence of large bodies of unappro-
priated public land was a proffer to
the world that any man with energy
and industry sufficient to reclaim a
small holding from the wilderness
might have substantially all the fruits
of his labor. This, however, has ref
erence to q condition which has passed
away. The residue of public lands at
the present time is affected by the pol
icy of conservation, which regards the
common good as best to be promoted
by developing the lands as direct
sources of revenue to the United States
rather than, as formerly, by develop
ment for private profit.