Public Land Survey System (PLSS)
Public Land Survey System (PLSS)
This domain tests the rectangular system in Minnesota: principal meridians, standard parallels, township and range, section subdivision, and the special rules for fractional sections and lost corners.
Core rules
- Townships are nominally 6 miles square, divided into 36 sections of 640 acres. Section numbering begins at the northeast corner of the township and snakes west-east, east-west.
- Standard parallels (correction lines) control north-south error; closing corners are set on them. Do not treat a closing corner as an ordinary section corner without checking its record.
- Sections are subdivided into aliquot parts by quarter lines; the center of the section is the intersection of the quarter-section lines, not necessarily the intersection of diagonals.
- Government lots are used along meandered water, reservation boundaries, and other irregular lines where regular aliquot subdivision does not fit. Their areas are shown on the official plat and are not computed as full 40-acre units.
- Meander corners are set at the intersection of section lines with the water boundary; meander lines are not boundary lines.
Worked example
A parcel is described as "Lot 4 of Section 6, Township 120 North, Range 30 West." Section 6 lies along a lake, so the northeast quarter is fractional. Lot 4 is bounded by the north section line, the east section line, and the meander line. Its acreage is the lot area shown on the GLO plat, not 40 acres. If the deed instead said "the NE 1/4 of the NE 1/4," the call would be suspect because the regular aliquot part is cut by the lake; the official lot or a metes-and-bounds description should control.
Traps
Assuming every quarter-quarter is 40 acres; setting a lost closing corner as a normal section corner; running straight lines across a meander line; ignoring the township's double corners; treating the center of section as the diagonal intersection.