Government survey

Key Takeaways

• The government survey system, also called the rectangular survey system, describes land on a grid of townships and ranges measured from a principal meridian and a baseline.
• A township is 6 miles square and contains 36 sections; a section is 1 mile square and contains 640 acres.
• Sections are numbered starting at 1 in the northeast corner, running west to 6, then dropping south and reversing, so section 36 lands in the southeast corner.
• Washington land is surveyed from the Willamette Meridian, so descriptions here read like Section 14, Township 23 North, Range 5 East, W.M.

What It Means

The government survey system, also called the rectangular survey system, describes land by its place on a national grid instead of by walking its boundary. Surveyors set a Principal Meridian running north and south and a baseline running east and west, then lay squares off that crossing point. Columns of squares east or west of the meridian are ranges. Rows north or south of the baseline are townships. A township measures 6 miles on a side and is cut into 36 sections of one square mile, or 640 acres, each.

Sections are numbered in a snake pattern: 1 in the northeast corner, west across the top to 6, down one row and back east to 12, and so on until 36 sits in the southeast corner. From there a description keeps halving and quartering, so the NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of a Section is 40 acres. Because the earth curves, north-south lines converge and the grid cannot stay perfect, so surveyors insert correction lines, and odd remnants along lakes, rivers, and state lines are numbered as government lots instead of clean quarters.

How It Works in Washington

In Washington, the rectangular grid is measured from the Willamette Meridian, the principal meridian covering this state. The RCWs use it themselves. RCW 36.04.020 fixes a county boundary at a point on the township line between ranges forty-four and forty-five east, Willamette Meridian. That is why a Washington Legal Description reads Section 14, Township 23 North, Range 5 East, W.M.

The grid shows up again at closing. RCW 65.04.045 requires the first page of a recorded instrument to carry an abbreviated legal description of the property, meaning lot, block, plat, or section, township, range, and quarter/quarter section. Keeping the grid honest on the ground is the surveyor's job. RCW 58.09.020 defines a survey as locating and monumenting points or lines that define a boundary common to two or more ownerships or that reestablish or restore general land office corners, and RCW 58.09.040 requires a licensed land surveyor to file a record of survey with the county auditor within ninety days after establishing, reestablishing, or restoring a corner. A recorded record of survey is the document that settles where a section or quarter corner sits.

Example

Ray is buying farmland described as the NW 1/4 of the SE 1/4 of Section 14, Township 23 North, Range 5 East, W.M., in Kittitas County at $6,500 per acre. Read the description from the back forward: start with Section 14, take its southeast quarter (640 / 4 = 160 acres), then take the northwest quarter of that (160 / 4 = 40 acres). Ray is buying 40 acres, so the price is $260,000 (40 x $6,500).

At closing the escrow officer confirms the deed's first page carries the abbreviated legal description required by RCW 65.04.045. A fence along the north line turns out to sit 14 feet inside where Ray's surveyor places the quarter-quarter corner, so the surveyor reestablishes the corner and files a record of survey with the Kittitas County auditor. Ray now knows which 40 acres of that Township he bought, and the neighbor to the north signs a boundary line agreement covering the 14-foot strip.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• A section is one mile square and 640 acres. A township is 36 sections, six miles square, and 23,040 acres.
• Read a quarter-quarter description backward. The NW 1/4 of the SE 1/4 means find the southeast quarter first, then its northwest quarter, which is 40 acres.
• Townships are numbered north and south of the baseline; ranges are numbered east and west of the principal meridian. Reversing the two is the most common error.
• Section numbers do not read left to right in every row. Numbering starts at 1 in the northeast corner and snakes back and forth, ending at 36 in the southeast corner.