Public Land Survey System (PLSS)

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Public Land Survey System (PLSS)

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Title: Public Land Survey System (PLSS)

1
Public Land Survey System(PLSS)
2
Introduction

What is it?
The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a way of
subdividing and describing land in the United
States.
The PLSS is used to divide public domain lands,
which are lands owned by the Federal government
for the benefit of the citizens of the United
States.
The original public domain included the land
ceded to the Federal Government by the thirteen
original States, supplemented with acquisitions
from native Indians and foreign powers.

http//nationalatlas.gov/articles/boundaries/a_pls
s.html
3
History

The history of the PLSS is rooted in the history
of land rights.
Spanish
By 1550 the Spanish had explored most of the
southern and eastern coast of North America.
The Spanish attitude was that ownership was based
on discovery.
They felt they owned the land because they were
the first ones (Europeans) to discover it.

4
History--cont.

English
Until the late 16th century England had not
explored outside of New England and because they
were political and religious allies with Spain
they did contest or try to expand their land
rights.
When England broke with Spain their attitude
toward the new world changed.
To have a claim in the new world they adopted the
attitude that ownership only came through
occupancy and use.
If they followed this philosophy, the land
belonged to the Indians.
They got around the Indian land rights by
adopting the policy that the Indians were
inferior they were non-Christian savages and
therefore had no rights in land tenure under
English law and customs.
It was upon this basis that England claimed and
took possession of the east cost between the 31
and 49 latitude (North Carolina through Maryland
and west to the Allegheny mountains)

5
Land titles before the Revolutionary War

Three types of government
Royal Colonies
New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia,
North South Carolina and Georgia.
The king of England appointed a governor who in
conjunction with the local assembly determine
local affairs.
Proprietary colonies
Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania
Similar to royal colonies
Corporate colonies
Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island
Each elected a colonial assembly, set up local
and county governments, made laws and had local
courts.
Each form of government handled the ownership and
identification of land in a different manner.

6
Land Tenure Systems

Grants
Colonial lands were first granted to settlement
agencies.
In order to hold the grant, settlers hand to be
placed on the land.
Grants were revoked if no settlement was
established.
The King also made direct grants to individuals
Head Rights
In southern states each man was granted 50, 100
or more acres.
To keep the land they were required to settle on
it and convert it to a producing farm
Policy was changed to grand a headright to each
person and an additional one for each individual
they transported to the new world.
By giving the land to the landowning masters the
indentured servants had little or no chance to
procure their own land
Promoted large estates with indentured servants
to operate them.

7
Land Tenure Systems--cont.

Land Sales
Direct land sales occurred in all colonies except
New England
A man could request the right to purchase land
and, if approved, would pay about 1 per acre.
New England towns
Because they were corporate colonies,
Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island held
land in common and the corporation dispersed it
to individuals.
A group of people could petition land from the
corporation, if approved, they would survey the
town, establish boundaries, and divide up the
land.
Grants were usually areas of 6 to 10 miles
square.
The land could not be transferred without the
permission of the corporation.
The division of the corporate land was the start
of the current rectangular system.

8
Locating Claims

Each colony, except New England, used a different
method for locating land claims.
Conflicting means of granting land, conflicting
means of locating claims lead to a system of
confusion and conflict.
Western Lands
Many states claimed part of the western lands,
land west of the Appalachian mountains.
No common reporting system or place lead to
overlapping boundaries and claims.
Individuals wanted access to cheap, small
parcels.
Land companies wanted access to cheap large
parcels so they could sell the land to
individuals.
The arguments and problems intensified after the
war because solders were give land in lieu of
payment.
Claim descriptions often used the metes and
bounds system.
Led to the Land Ordinance of 1785.

9
Land Ordinance of 1785

Adopted in May 1785
Congress did not have the power to raise revenue
by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the
United States.
The immediate goal of the ordinance was to raise
money through the sale of land in the largely
unmapped territory west of the original colonies
acquired from Britain at the end of the
Revolutionary War.
The Land Ordinance established the basis for the
Public Land Survey System (PLSS).
Land was to be systematically surveyed into
square townships, six miles on a side.
Each of these townships was sub-divided into
thirty-six sections of one square mile or 640
acres (259 hectares).
These sections could then be further subdivided
for sale to settlers and land speculators.
The ordinance was also significant for
establishing a mechanism for funding public
education. Section 16 in each township was
reserved for the maintenance of public schools.

10
Metes and Bounds

The original colonies (including their
derivatives Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, Kentucky
and West Virginia) continued the British system
of metes and bounds.
This system describes property lines based on
local markers and bounds drawn by humans, often
based on topography.
A typical, yet simple, description under this
system might read "From the point on the north
Beginning at the mouth of a branch at an ash
stump thence up the creek south 20 poles to 2
beach, thence east 41 poles to a small walnut in
Arnett's line, thence north 50 east 80 poles to a
linn hickory dogwood in said line, thence north
38 poles to an ash, thence west 296 poles with
Potts's line till it intersects with Tolly's
line, thence south 30 west 80 poles to a whiteoak
and sugar, thence east 223 poles to beginning
The metes and bounds system was effective in
Britain where boundaries were well established
and stable.
It did not work in the colonies.

11
Metes and Bounds--cont.

The old English version of metes and bounds is
not used, but modern lots are defined in a
similar method.
In the current usage, angles and distances are
used to describe the boundaries instead of visual
artifacts.

12
Lot and Block System

Became popular during the 19th century.
Primarily used to subdivide a larger area of land
into smaller units.
The owners of a large tract of land would create
a plat and subdivide the tract into a series of
smaller lots to be sold to buyers.
A subdivision survey is conducted to divide the
original tract into smaller lots and a plat map
is created.
Lots are described with a metes and bounds system
using calls, courses and distances.
Call boundary line
Course direction of travel
Distance Distance between course changes.
Usually to 0.01 feet.

13
Lot and Block--cont.

This subdivision survey plan would then be
recorded with an official government record
keeper.
The officially recorded map then became the legal
description of all the lots in the subdivision.
An example description Lot 6 of Block 1 of the
Swim addition plat as recorded in Map Book 21,
Page 33

14
PLSS
15
What is it?

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) was
developed to subdivide and describe land in the
United States.
All lands in the public domain were divided by
this rectangular system of surveys.
The PLSS is regulated by the U.S. Department of
the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

16
Public Land Survey System (PLSS)Terms

Initial point

Township
Section
Closing corners

Base line
Principle meridian
Parallels
Guide meridians
Quadrangle

Two additional terms
Latitude
Longitude

17
PLSS Terms--Initial Point

A PLSS grid was started by establishing a initial
point.
The recommended practice was to establish an
initial point by astronomical observations.
The initial point was at the crossing of a
principal meridian and a latitude.
The Oklahoma initial point was established in
1870 by E. N. Darling and Thomas H. Barrett

They arbitrarily selected a point about one mile
south of Fort Arbuckle (at a point approximately
six miles west of present Davis, in Murray County)
http//www.okhistory.org/enc/indianmeridan.htm
Two understand the establishment of an initial
point, base line and principle meridian, you must
understand latitude and longitude.
18
Latitude

Latitude identifies the north to south location
of a point on the Earth.
Latitude can be defined precisely as the angle,
along a meridian, between the point and the
equatorial plane of the Earth.

19
Latitude--cont.

There are several equivalent ways to express
latitude.
The most common has latitude 0o at the Equator,
90o N at the north pole, and 90o S at the south
pole.
In several places in North America, signs mark
the location of the 45th parallel or 45o N
halfway between the equator and the pole.
With the advent of computers, another common way
to express this is from 90 (at the north pole)
to -90 (at the south pole).
In programming, this allows the latitude to be
simply expressed as a real number and does not
require a number and a character (N or S).

20
Latitude--cont.

Latitude ranges from 0o degrees at the equator to
90o at the poles.

Besides the equator, four other lines of latitude
are named because of the role they play in the
geometrical relationship with the Earth and the
Sun
Arctic Circle ? 66o 33' 39? N
Tropic of Cancer ? 23o 26' 21? N
Tropic of Capricorn ? 23o 26' 21? S
Antarctic Circle ? 66o 33' 39? S

21
Latitude Example

The earth is about 40,075.0 km, or 24,901.5 miles
in circumference at the equator.
The earth is actually 24,859.82 miles (40,008 km)
in circumference around the poles.
The miles per degree of latitude are

The latitude of Stillwater is 36o 7 21 N
The distance from Stillwater to the equator is

22
Longitude

Longitude identifies the east to west location of
a point on the Earth, by measuring the angular
distance from the Greenwich meridian (or Prime
meridian, where longitude is 0), along the
equator to the meridian of the unknown point.

23
Longitude--cont.

There are three equivalent ways to express
longitude.
The most familiar is 0-180 East, and 0-180 West.
It can also be expressed as 0-360 East - or just
0-360. In this system, 270 East is equivalent to
90 West.
The third system arose in the computer era, when
carrying both a number (0-180) and a character
(East or West) was inconvenient. The new
convention of -180 to 180 was then developed.
In this system, -90 is equivalent to 90 West.

24
Longitude--cont.

Longitude divides the earth into north-south
lines passing through the north and south pole.

The equator is 40,075.0 km, or 24,901.5 miles in
circumference, therefore

The diameter of a horizontal circle decreases as
you move away from the equator, therefore the 70
miles per degree is only accurate at the equator.
Each degree of longitude covers fewer miles as
the latitude angle increases.

Note each latitude forms a horizontal circle,
which decreases in diameter towards the poles.
25
Longitude example

As determined previously, there is approximately
70 miles per degree of longitude at the equator.
A longitude of 45o W would be approximately
3,150 miles west of the principle meridian, along
the equator.

26
Longitude Example

The diameter of the earth on a parallel circle
decreases as you move towards the poles.

If you assume the earth is a sphere, the radius
of a parallel circle is equal to

Question How many miles per degree of longitude
will there be at a latitude of 36.0911o ?
(Stillwater)
27
Longitude cont.

The earth is not a sphere
A equation, called geodetic model, must be used
to determine the miles/degree of longitude for
each latitude.

28
Longitude Example-cont.

The location of Stillwater is
2,494 miles north of the equator
5,422 miles west of Greenwich mean

Note these distances are based on the assumption
the earth is a sphere. It isnt, therefore these
are numbers are not very precise.
29
PLSS Terms--cont.

Principal Meridian
A principal meridian was established that
followed a longitude through the initial point.
Only one principal meridian was used for each
survey.
The principal meridian is a continuous line

Base Line
A base line is an east-west line established
through the initial point and at 90o to the
principal meridian.
Base lines are curved because they are equal
distance from the poles.
They are parallel to the equator.

30
PLSS Terms--cont.

Standard parallels
After the base line was established, parallel
lines were established at 24 mile intervals north
and south of the base line. These are called
standard parallels.
In Oklahoma there are twenty-nine standard
parallels north and nine south of the Base Line.

Guide meridians
Guide meridians are north-south boundary lines
that are established at 24 mile intervals,
perpendicular to the base line and each standard
parallel.

Because the guide meridians were established
perpendicular to a curved line, they are not
parallel to the prime meridian or each other and
therefore are not continuous.

31
PLSS Terms--cont.

Because each guide meridian is established at 90o
to the standard parallel, there is an offset
where each guide meridian joins the next standard
parallel.

This is called the closing corner.
As the survey moves North of the base line, the
offset of the closing corner increases because
the meridians converge at the north pole.
32
PLSS Terms--cont.Quadrangle

PLSS grid

An area with the boundaries of two parallel and
two meridians is called a quadrangle.
This term is not used in the description.
Each quadrangle contains 16 townships.

33
PLSS Terms-cont.Township