66 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN 



the westerly board of sections in each township when 

 surveys are accurately made. For the same purpose, 

 reduction in the number of irregular units, quarter corners 

 for the north and west tiers of sections are placed exactly 

 forty chains from the interior corners, not at the middle 

 point of the section lines. 



The Land Office instructions to surveyors contain 

 several articles on the marking of lines, of which those of 

 interest to the woodsman are quoted on page 24 of this 

 work. Instructions for establishing corners and erecting 

 monuments are also given, but are far too elaborate to be 

 here quoted in full. Corner monuments consist of an ob- 

 ject marking the corner itself and its accessories. They 

 are to be set up at the intersection of all the lines noted 

 in the instructions quoted above and at some other points 

 to be mentioned hereafter. Several approved forms of 

 corner monuments are described below. Any one may 

 be used for a township, a section, or a quarter-section 

 corner, the marks upon it indicating what the corner is. 



1. Stone with pits and mound of earth. 



2. Stone with mound of stone. 



3. Stone with bearing trees. 



4. Post with pits and mound of earth. 



5. Post with bearing trees. 



6. Mound of earth, with marked stone or charcoal de- 

 posited inside, and stake in pit. 



7. Tree with pit and mound of stone. 



8. Tree with bearing trees. 



Posts of wood and stone and bearing trees have been 

 employed largely as corner monuments in timbered 

 country. The post is set not to exceed one foot out of the 

 ground. At a standard, closing, or quarter corner it is set 

 facing cardinal directions, diagonally at a corner common 

 to four townships or sections. Plain figures and initial 

 letters inscribed on the faces give the location, and this in 

 the case of section corners is also indicated by notches cut 

 in the edges or by grooves on faces. These notches, on 

 account of their durability, are of much service in identi- 



