LAND DESCRIPTION (TOWNSHIP RANGE SECTION SUBSECTION) 



Townships are located by a numbered 

 grid system consisting of Township 

 and Range lines. The Township lines 

 run east and west of a principal 

 meridian. The Range lines run north 

 and south of an established base 

 line. Thus, a Township is described 

 as a number N or S of the base line, 

 and a number E or W of the principal 

 meridian. 



Section Numbers 



A desirable modification of the 

 usual method of describing a 

 location on a map is the one 

 used by several agencies 

 including the USGS. A location 

 is specified by using 12 

 characters - the first three 

 give the Township; the next 

 three give the Range; the next 

 two the Section number within 

 the Township; and the next four 

 the location within the quarter 

 section (160 A) , the 

 quarter-quarter section (40 A), 

 the quarter-quarter-quarter 

 section (10 A) and the 

 quarter-quarter-quarter-quarter 

 section (Ih A) . The 

 subdivisions of the 640 A 

 section are designated as A, B, 

 C, and D in a counterclockwise 

 direction, beginning in the 

 northeast quadrant. For 

 example, if a lake is located 

 in Township 9N, Range 20W, 

 Section 21 the description 

 might be 09N20W21DAA. The 

 letters DAA indicate the lake 

 is in the NE k of the NE h of 

 the SE \ of Section 21. As 

 indicated above, a still 

 further breakdown to a 2h acre 

 area is possible using a fourth 

 letter (A, B, C, or D) . 



300/19.1 



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