formerly used in the late Province of Louisiana. These proportions were adopted by the Surveyor-General's Office of St. Louis, Missouri, and are considered in all surveys as the true proportions between said measures. A league square contains 7056 arpents or 6002 50 acres. contains 725 arpents and 32.64 perches, or 640 acres. 12 arpents=35 chains lineal. A mile square SYSTEM OF RECTANGULAR SURVEYING EMPLOYED IN SUBDIVIDING THE PUBLIC LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. (xxi) INTRODUCTION. THE rectangular system of surveying adopted by the United States in subdividing the public lands, in its present state of perfection, is the simplest and most beautiful that could be devised. It is believed no other government equals our own in the perfection of its system of public surveys. A state when subdivided has the regularity and symmetry of a well-laid out city on a grand scale; the townships corresponding to the blocks and the sections and subdivisions to the lots, but with this difference in favor of the public surveys-the sections and townships are uniformly one and six miles square, bounded by lines conforming to the cardinal points. Then there is the principal meridian and base line, crossing each other at right angles, which form the frame-work upon which the subsequent surveys are built, answering to the main streets of a city, from which the blocks are consecutively numbered; so that any one possessing a knowledge of the system, can determine the locality and relative position of a township or subdivision with as great facility and certainty as he can a block or lot in a well-planned town. Imagine one vast city extending over 50,000 acres, surveyed in this manner, under the general supervision of one directing head, and we may have some just conception of the regularity and beauty of the government system of rectangular surveying. This perfection was not reached at once; the existing system is the result of many years' trial and change. The first government surveying was done in the State of Ohio, in 1796. The "seven ranges," as they were called, being the first seven tiers of townships west of the Ohio river, were first surveyed. The land department was at that time under the direction of the (xxiii) |