Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 7
The Public Land Survey System
The
Public Land Survey System
(PLSS), also known as the
Rectangular Survey
System
, is a method of dividing land into rectangular parcels. The system began in
1785 in Ohio, and was further established by the General Land Office (GLO), an inde-
pendent agency of the U.S. Government, during the 19th century. The GLO was eventu-
ally merged with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) when it was created in 1946.
The system applies to 30 states, as shown by the colored states in Fig.
7.1
. States
which did not adopt the system are, Georgia, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont,
Virginia, and West Virginia and Texas (Texas has a variation of the PLSS system).
7.1 The Manual of Surveying Instructions
Surveys made under the PLSS are governed by the manual prepared by the Bureau
of Land Management. The topic is available from the BLM and the current ver-
sion is entitled
The 2009 Manual of Surveying Instructions
(referred to herein as
Manual). The first manual was published in 1855 and there have been 9 editions.
The Manual contains more than 300 pages so, with our limited space, all we can
hope to do here is to provide the reader with a broad overview of the PLSS.
7.2 Principal Meridians and Base Lines
The system is based on established
Principal Meridians
and
Base Lines
as
shown in the map, published by the U.S. Government and shown in Fig.
7.1
.
These principal meridians and base lines start from
Initial Points
. Shown at the
intersection of black lines on the map, the initial points are fixed on the ground at
