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).
You must have Meridian, Township, Range, Section, and a bit more to stake a claim.
Gosh, I bought 2 homes and I should have known this.
Now, Prime Meridian which governs Time is at Longitude 0 and runs through
Greenwich, England. Used to be called Greenwich Time.
(Pronounced Grenich). Now called Universal Time. Available from National Bureau of Standard in Fort Collins CO.
Broadcast on 5, 10 15, 20, and 25 Mhz. in Amplitude Modulation frequencies.
Also from other parts of the world. This time is determined by observing the half life of the cesium atom.
More than you wanted to know I am sure.
But time is important as to where you are in the world re: celestrial navigation.
At such and such a time the sun, moon, star you are seeing is exactly so many degrees above the horizon on a certain date.
Thus you can get your Latitude and Longitude and say YOU ARE THERE!
Modern GPS units do all the calculating for you so a sextant is not needed.
They go off the geosyncronus positions of satelites thrown into space and triangulated from that.
And time.
For my concern it is the legal description of the land in Meridian, Township, Range, and Section.
I didn't know what Meridian to go from.
Grey