Meridian,Township,Range

delnorter

Hero Member
Oct 28, 2008
907
2,300
Northern California
Primary Interest:
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I had not seen this thread before. Just a couple comments.

By Hoser John:
"Nope--- hit the dictionary as they also are a land designation-example-kalif is the Mount Diablo Meridian and also mandatory in all legal documents filed on all claims"-John

The most northwesterly part of California utilizes the Humboldt Meridian and Base line. Mike O.

By Greydigger:
Yah, I think (Maybe) the Meridian is a set point for each state,
For Oregon the (?) Benchmark goes from there.
I have been to it in the west hills of Portland.
Then the Township is N/S and Range is E/W.
Section is a square mile seperated into 36 pieces each piece being 640 acres.
The parts of sections are broken down further.
(Help me if I am wrong).

Actually it is the Township which is 6 miles square consisting of 36 Sections of 1 square mile (640 acres) each which is then broken down further into 1/4 sections (160 acres), 1/4 - 1/4 Sections (40 acres) and such. One must also be very careful in assuming Townships, Sections and the breakdown of sections are exact acreages. Very often they are no where near being square, Townships or Sections. Mike O.

Here is a link to a BLM site showing the Principle Meridians and Base Lines.
http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/meridians/meridians.htm

Hope this helps, there is a lot to the original cadastral surveys of the western 2/3rds of the country on which our maps land descriptions are based.

Mike
 

Last edited:

TerryC

Gold Member
Jun 26, 2008
7,735
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Yarnell, AZ
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Primary Interest:
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I had not seen this thread before. Just a couple comments.

By Hoser John:
"Nope--- hit the dictionary as they also are a land designation-example-kalif is the Mount Diablo Meridian and also mandatory in all legal documents filed on all claims"-John

The most northwesterly part of California utilizes the Humboldt Meridian and Base line. Mike O.

By Greydigger:
Yah, I think (Maybe) the Meridian is a set point for each state,
For Oregon the (?) Benchmark goes from there.
I have been to it in the west hills of Portland.
Then the Township is N/S and Range is E/W.
Section is a square mile seperated into 36 pieces each piece being 640 acres.
The parts of sections are broken down further.
(Help me if I am wrong).

Actually it is the Township which is 6 miles square consisting of 36 Sections of 1 square mile (640 acres) each which is then broken down further into 1/4 sections (160 acres), 1/4 - 1/4 Sections (40 acres) and such. One must also be very careful in assuming Townships, Sections and the breakdown of sections are exact acreages. Very often they are no where near being square, Townships or Sections. Mike O.

Here is a link to a BLM site showing the Principle Meridians and Base Lines.
http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/meridians/meridians.htm

Hope this helps, there is a lot to the original cadastral surveys of the western 2/3rds of the country on which our maps land descriptions are based.

Mike
Very good post, Mike. Informative and to the point. I would also like to see the UTM grids of our mapping systems be elaborated on and used more. I have recently seen some newer USGS topos have the UTM grids all lined out on them. Great. TTC
 

Chachie

Greenie
Dec 29, 2012
11
3
La Quinta
Hey Chachie if your still having problems PM me i will help if i can.

Hey thanks buddy. I THINK, i got er under control now. This is what I did just in case someone searches this someday.
I did another search on here, but through google. And somebody made a thread regarding usminer.com and the virtual prospecting plug in for google earth.
Took me awhile but eventually I got to the drop down box where one of the options is TWP RNG SEC. Once i clicked that option everything on the map came clear to me. I understand that info may not be up to date, but...i get it....15s / 4e etc etc. I sort of had to look at it backwards, which is funny because one of the memebers on the page before said in jokingly manner, do it ass backwards...well I sort of did. But i now understand all the numbers to input and more importantly what those numbers mean!

Johnnysau, thanks for the offer..I may end up PMing you with some questions to confirm I am doing this correctly.

Thanks guys,
chad
 

TimC

Sr. Member
Jul 24, 2008
405
73
Gold Country, Yarnell, AZ
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Various
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If you want the Meridian, Township, Range as an overlay on Google Earth do this. While in GE reduce it and get into your search engine screen. Type in PLSGE. Then choose the appropriate website. If you have the right one there will be a blue column of choices on the left. Click the PLSGE then scroll to the bottom and choose download. It will go directly to your GE places. It makes finding the gps coords very acurate for staking a claim.
 

KevinInColorado

Gold Member
Jan 9, 2012
7,037
11,370
Summit County, Colorado
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Grizzly Goldtrap Explorer & Motherlode, Gold Cube with trommel or Banker on top, Angus Mackirk Expedition, Gold-n-Sand Xtream Hand pump
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
This works great, thanks!

Mine it and recycle it!
 

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