Public Land Survey System (PLSS)

What is the PLSS?

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a standardized method for dividing and describing land in the United States. It uses a rectangular grid system to organize land into measurable sections. The system is regulated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

PLSS applies to lands in the public domain—land originally owned by the federal government for the benefit of the public. Over time, much of this land has been transferred into private ownership. Even so, PLSS-based descriptions are still commonly used for legal land descriptions today.

How the PLSS Divides Land

The PLSS organizes land into a grid of townships and sections:

• Townships are 6 miles by 6 miles (36 square miles)
• Each township is divided into 36 sections
• Each section is 1 mile by 1 mile (640 acres)
• Sections can be further divided into:
  • Half sections
  • Quarter sections
  • Smaller fractional lots

Survey monuments (physical markers) are placed at key points, including section corners and quarter-section corners. Today, these are typically metal or concrete markers. Earlier surveys often used less permanent markers like wooden stakes, stones, or marked trees.

How Surveys are Referenced

PLSS surveys are based on a starting point called an initial point.

From this point:

• A north–south line forms the Principal Meridian
• An east–west line forms the Base Line

There are 37 named Principal Meridians across the U.S., used to distinguish different survey areas.

Township and Range System

Each township is identified using a township and range designation:

• Township (T) = distance north or south of the base line
• Range (R) = distance east or west of the Principal Meridian

Example:
T7N, R2W
= 7 townships north of the base line and 2 ranges west of the meridian

A full legal land description may include:

• State
• Principal Meridian
• Township and range
• Section number

Example:
Nebraska, Sixth Principal Meridian, T7N, R2W, Section 5

General History

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) was first proposed by Thomas Jefferson following the Revolutionary War. At that time, the federal government gained control of large areas of land west of the original thirteen colonies.

The government needed a way to:

• Distribute land to soldiers as payment for their service
• Sell land to generate revenue for the new nation

Before land could be distributed or sold, it had to be surveyed. The Land Ordinance of 1785 established a standardized process for surveying and marking public lands. This was followed by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which introduced a rectangular grid system—what would become the foundation of the PLSS.

Under these laws, the government conducted cadastral surveys (surveys that define land boundaries) to divide land into parcels that could be transferred to private ownership. Since then, the PLSS has been used as the basis for most land ownership and transfers across applicable areas of the United States.

Today, PLSS surveys follow procedures outlined in the Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States (1973).

Not Included in the PLSS

The PLSS does not cover the entire United States. The original thirteen colonies—and the states later formed from them—were settled before the system existed and instead describe land using the older metes-and-bounds method. Texas, which joined the Union as an independent republic, kept its own survey system, and Hawaii was never part of the PLSS. About thirty of the contiguous states are covered by the system, including Utah.

History of the PLSS in Utah

The first official PLSS survey in Utah County took place in 1856 during the Utah Territory period. The work was led by Columbus L. Craig under the direction of David H. Burr, Utah’s first U.S. Surveyor General.

Surveying began from an initial point located at the southeast corner of Temple Square in Salt Lake City. From this point, surveyors established the principal meridian and began mapping the surrounding land into townships.

Mr. Craig and his crews rapidly surveyed much of the Utah Valley—likely completing large portions in less than one year.

Early surveys used:

• Wooden posts (often cedar)
• Markers placed at section corners every half mile
• Mounds of earth built around each marker

Transition to Permanent Monuments

By the late 1800s, it became clear that wooden markers would not last. More durable materials were needed.

Between the 1870s and 1890s:

• Additional surveyors were contracted to revisit earlier work
• Wooden posts were replaced with chiseled stone markers where possible
• Some incomplete surveys were completed

By the early 1900s (around 1905 in Utah Valley), brass caps began to be used to mark survey points. These more permanent markers are still used today to identify official survey locations.