<table><thead><tr><th colspan="8">Sectional Map of a Township with adjoining Sections.</th><th colspan="2">SECTION.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>36</td><td>31</td><td>32</td><td>33</td><td>34</td><td>35</td><td>36</td><td>31</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>7</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>10</td><td>11</td><td>12</td><td>7</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>18</td><td>17</td><td>16</td><td>15</td><td>14</td><td>13</td><td>18</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>24</td><td>19</td><td>20</td><td>21</td><td>22</td><td>23</td><td>24</td><td>19</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>25</td><td>30</td><td>29</td><td>28</td><td>27</td><td>26</td><td>25</td><td>30</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>36</td><td>31</td><td>32</td><td>33</td><td>34</td><td>35</td><td>36</td><td>31</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><thead><tr><th colspan="7">Sectional Map of a Township with adjoining Sections.</th><th>SECTION.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>36</td><td>31</td><td>32</td><td>33</td><td>34</td><td>35</td><td>36</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>7</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>10</td><td>11</td><td>12</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>18</td><td>17</td><td>16</td><td>15</td><td>14</td><td>13</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>24</td><td>19</td><td>20</td><td>21</td><td>22</td><td>23</td><td>24</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>25</td><td>30</td><td>29</td><td>28</td><td>27</td><td>26</td><td>25</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>36</td><td>31</td><td>32</td><td>33</td><td>34</td><td>35</td><td>36</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><tbody><tr><td>A rod is 16½ feet.</td><td rowspan="5">80 rods.</td><td rowspan="3">10 chains.</td><td>330 ft.</td></tr><tr><td>A chain is 66 feet or 4 rods.</td><td>5 acres. 5 acres.</td></tr><tr><td>A mile is 320 rods, 80 chains or 5,280 ft.</td><td>5 ch. 20 rods.</td></tr><tr><td>A square rod is 272¼ square feet.</td><td rowspan="2">20 acres.</td><td rowspan="2">.8004 10 acres.</td></tr><tr><td>An acre contains 43,560 square feet.</td></tr><tr><td>“ “ “ 160 square rods.</td><td rowspan="3">80 acres.</td><td rowspan="3">660 feet.</td><td>10 chains.</td></tr><tr><td>“ “ is about 208¾ feet square.</td><td>10 chains.</td></tr><tr><td>“ “ is 8 rods wide by 20 rods long, or any two numbers (of rods) whose product is 160.</td><td>40 acres.</td></tr><tr><td>25x125 feet equals .0717 of an acre.</td><td></td><td></td><td>1,320 feet.</td></tr><tr><td>CENTER</td><td>OF</td><td>20 chains.</td><td>80 rods.</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><tbody><tr><td>36</td><td>31</td><td>32</td><td>33</td><td>34</td><td>35</td><td>36</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>7</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>10</td><td>11</td><td>12</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>18</td><td>17</td><td>16</td><td>15</td><td>14</td><td>13</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>24</td><td>19</td><td>20</td><td>21</td><td>22</td><td>23</td><td>24</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>25</td><td>30</td><td>29</td><td>28</td><td>27</td><td>26</td><td>25</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>36</td><td>31</td><td>32</td><td>33</td><td>34</td><td>35</td><td>36</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td></tr></tbody></table>

SECTION.

160 acres.

40 chains, 160 rods or 2,640 feet.

A rod is 16½ feet.

A chain is 66 feet or 4 rods.

“ “ “ 160 square rods.

“ “ is about 208¾ feet square.

25x125 feet equals .0717 of an acre.

CENTER

80 rods.

80 acres.

10 chains.

330 ft.

5 acres. 5 acres.

5 ch.

20 rods.

20 acres.

5 chains.

10 acres.

660 feet.

10 chains.

660 feet.

40 acres.

1,320 feet.

80 rods.

OF 20 chains.

SECTION.

<table><thead><tr><th>36</th><th>31</th><th>32</th><th>33</th><th>34</th><th>35</th><th>36</th><th>31</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>7</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>10</td><td>11</td><td>12</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>18</td><td>17</td><td>16</td><td>15</td><td>14</td><td>13</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>24</td><td>19</td><td>20</td><td>21</td><td>22</td><td>23</td><td>24</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>25</td><td>30</td><td>29</td><td>28</td><td>27</td><td>26</td><td>25</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>36</td><td>31</td><td>32</td><td>33</td><td>34</td><td>35</td><td>36</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>6</td></tr></tbody></table>

160 acres.

40. Across the Continent, 1868 (right)

Currier and Ives Lithograph

41. Power Transmission Lines,

Arizona (lower right)

The railroad was the lifeline of a community in most places before the highway building era (Figure 40, right). The location of the railroad often determined the location of a town and all of the major activities within it. The transcontinental railroads, when built, struck out across the American countryside on rights-of-way often provided by the government itself. Throughout much of the 19th century, large pieces of terrain abutting the railroads were held for speculation by the railroad companies and quite a bit is still retained by them today. In this century, massive power-line rights-of-way have been spread across the land (Figure 41, below right). The mid-20th century highway building era represents another wave—and probably the last—when the land will be used so recklessly. In America, land is still very abundant. Most of it remains uninhabited. Across the country, and especially in the cities and their surrounding regions, a new reverence for the environment exists for the first time. Public interest in land as a resource rather than as a commodity is growing. This new trend will have profound implications in years to come on all aspects of planning, land settlement patterns, and especially on the once easily obtained privilege of undertaking massive projects which use the land recklessly or for the private benefit of special-interest groups.

Figure 9.8 — The first seven ranges of townships, as surveyed by 1786, west of the Ohio (numbered 1 to 7 from east to west). An example township, in the seventh range, is shown as divided into its thirty-six one square mile sections each of 640 acres. Key: M, in south-western corner — the town of Marietta platted in 1788.

'Today', writes John Reps, 'as one flies over the last mountain ridges from the east, one sees stretching ahead to the horizon a vast chequer board of fields and roads. With military precision, modified only on occasion by some severe topographic break, or some earlier system of land distribution, this rectangular grid persists to the shores of the Pacific.'

(The Making of Urban America)