The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-06-02
SNORT TALKS On HOMESTEAD MATTERS
BY COLA W. SHEPARD. United States Commissioner
SMALLEST LEGAL. SUBDIVISION
TALK NO. 81

Copyrighted 1891 BY Cola ~: shep-
cSiosa ;.W We sss ~ ts the
special arrangemenGJ
In order to make plain what is
meant by illegal subdivistons" ct the
government survey. Il 10 necessary to
know something Of. the manner in
which land IL surveyed and described.
When given tract Of land 10 to
be surveyed 1t IL flrst blocked on into
townships. each approximately six
miles square and containing thirty.six
sections. There may also be frac-
tional townships containing less than
thirty-six sections IL the tract tc be
surveyed contains more land than can
be included in the regular townships.
These townships are subdivided into
sections. each enc mile square, ex-
ceptiing those sections which lie along
the orthern and western boundaries
of the township. The sections are
numbered from one to thirty-six. be-
ginning at the northeast corner Of the
township and proceeding west along
the north side, then back east and so
on. back and forth across the town
ship from east to west and from west
to- east. with section SO In the south
east corner of the township.
In subdividing the township the
surveyors begin with section SO, r,ak-
ing it just a mile square ('f possble)
and they then work west and north
from the southeast corner Of the
township, making each section mile
square until they reach the row of
sections on the north and west sides
of the township. AS no township is
exactly six miles square, but all vary
more or less owing to the fact that
the earth is round and not Nat and to
acretain Inaccuracies which cannot be
avoided. the sections on the north and
west sides of the township generally
contain more or less than even square
miles. Unless there Ia great varia-
ton. all the sections in a township
are regular except sections numbered
l to Z inclusive, IS. 10, 80 and 81.
These sections are seldom just mile
square. but usually contain more or
less than a square mile.
Each sections is divided by the sur
veyors into quarter sections. which
are ucSCilOeu us tu0 ANE74s Az W -
SWA and SEA. The surveyors mark
the four corners CT the quarter Sec
tions. but they do not put any mark
in the center Of the section where the
four quarter sections come together.
section corners and the corners of
the quarter sections are called quar-
ter corners" The quarter corners are
l.
way between the section corners. be-
ing half a mile from the section corr
ner (not a quarter of a mile). BY
the quarter corner of the
east side of a section with the quar-
ter corner on the west side Ct the
section by a straight line. and like
wise connecting the quarter corners
on the north and south sides Of the
section with another straight line. the
section is correctly divided into quar-
ter sections.
Each quarter section is again d.
vided into four tracts Of forty acres.
or thereabouts. and these tracts are
the smallest legal subdivisions of the
public land survey. In all regular
sections (Which are just mile square)
the quarter sections are just half
mile square and contain 100 acres.
while the Quarter-quarter sections. or
forties. are just quarter of mile
square and contain just 10 acres.
These quarter-quarter sections are de-
scribed as the NEA OF the NEA, the
SEA- of the SWA, etc. their descrip-
ton showing exactly which quarter Of
which quarter-section they are. and
when a tract Is described as quarter
1t contains forty acres.
However. we Rave seen that certain
sections are nearly always irregular.
and in some townships other sections
may be irregular. These irregular Sec
tons cannot be evenly divided into
forty-acre tracts. SO they are divide
into as many even forty-acre tracts
as possible and the remaining land il
put into "lots' which are GAumlered.
beginning with lot in the northeast
corner of the section and proceeding
west. then back east, as the sections
are numbered in a township. When
a subdivision Is described as a lot in
stead Ct a quarter-quarter section 1t
may be taen for granted that such
subdivision contains more or less than
forty acres.
It sometimes happens that, land Ia
appropriated prior to survey and can
not be made to conform to the regular
survey. Such land is surveyed into
"tracts," which are usually numbered
and the subdivisions are lettered al
"Tract IS A."
are destined tc, he a auccess or mi
You can easily find out. The test II