On a map, township numbers run along the sides of the map and range numbers along the top or bottom. (The Kansas-Nebraska border is the dividing line between south and north township lines.) Range lines are split between east and west at the Sixth Principal Meridian, which runs north to south through Wichita. East ranges are numbered from 1E to 25E to the Missouri border and west ranges from 1W to 43W to the Colorado border. In Kansas, township lines are numbered 1S to 35S, starting at the Nebraska border. Townships are designated by both a township and a range number. Normally, townships are 6-mile by 6-mile squares. Townships and SectionsĪ township is a basic unit of land within the PLSS. The PLSS eventually included all of the United States westward from Ohio to the Pacific Ocean and northward to the Arctic. The PLSS ordinance, passed in 1785, set up a standardized national survey system that incorporated the better features of individual systems previously used by the colonies.

They argued that the land should not be given out in large grants to wealthy men and land speculation companies but should be divided into small parcels and sold for low prices.

The PLSS grew out of a political movement led by Thomas Jefferson and John Adams that held that an essential part of a democracy was the right to own property. Each section is about 1 mile square and contains 640 acres. In this system, land is divided into pieces called townships that are generally 6 miles on a side and contain 36 sections.

Public Land Survey System (PLSS) was established shortly after the Revolutionary War as a way to describe and record parcels of land for legal purposes.

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