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Asurvey township, sometimes called aCongressional township or justtownship, as used by theUnited StatesPublic Land Survey System and by Canada'sDominion Land Survey is a nominally-square area of land that is nominally sixsurvey miles (about 9.66 km) on a side. Each 36-square-mile (about 93.2 km2) township is divided into 36sections of one square mile (640acres, roughly 2.6 km2) each.[1] The sections can be further subdivided for sale.
The townships are referenced by a numbering system that locates the township in relation to aprincipal meridian (north-south) and abase line (east-west). For example, Township 2 North, Range 4 East is the 4th township east of the principal meridian and the 2nd township north of the base line.
Township (exterior) lines were originally surveyed and platted by theUnited States General Land Office using contracted private survey crews. Later survey crews subdivided the townships into section (interior) lines. Virtually all lands covered by this system were sold according to those boundaries and are marked on theU.S. Geological Surveytopographic maps.
Prior to standardization, some of theOhio Lands (theUnited States Military District, theFirelands and theConnecticut Western Reserve) were surveyed into townships of 5 miles (8.0 km) on each side. These are often known as Congressional Townships.[2][3]
Sections are divided into quarter-sections of 160 acres (65 ha) each and quarter-quarter sections of 40 acres (16 ha) each. In theHomestead Act of 1862, one quarter-section of land was the amount allocated to each settler. Stemming from that are theidiomatic expressions, "the lower 40", the 40 acres on a settler's land that is lowest in elevation, in the direction towards which water drains toward a stream, and the "back forty", the portion farthest from the settler's dwelling.
In western Canada, theDominion Land Survey adopted a similar format for survey townships, which do not form administrative units. These townships also have an area of approximately 36 square miles (six miles by six miles).
These townships include road allowances, so their nominal dimensions are a bit longer than six miles. In the first and second phases of the survey (Manitoba and parts ofSaskatchewan), townships are nominally 489 chains (6.11 mi; 9.84 km) east-west and north-south.[4] In the third phase of the survey (British Columbia,Alberta and most of Saskatchewan), townships are nominally 486 chains (6.08 mi; 9.78 km) east-west and 483 chains (6.04 mi; 9.72 km) north-south.[5] The actual area of a given township differs from the nominal because of systematic effects (due to the design of the survey) and surveying errors.
Survey townships are distinct fromcivil townships. A survey township is used to establish boundaries for land ownership, while a civil township is a form oflocal government. In states with civil townships, the two types of townships often coincide. County lines, especially in western states, usually follow survey township lines, leading to the large number of rectangular counties in the Midwest, which are agglomerations of survey townships.[6]
