Original
surveys of Kansas: The Public Land Survey System
First
Guide Meridian East Project
Kansas was originally surveyed using a system
first developed by Thomas Jefferson called the
Public Land Survey System. The different Manuals
of Instruction, such as the one published in 1855,
were issued as improvements on Jefferson’s
original idea. The Public Land Survey System (PLSS)
is a legal reference system designed to ease the
description, inventory and transfer of real property.
The PLSS surveys in Kansas were conducted between
1854 and 1876. Today, a great majority of land
transactions in the 30 western-most states are
described with this section, township, and range
system. The Public Land Act of 1785 stipulated
the use of the English mile as the national distance
measurement and required that it be measured using
the 66-foot Gunter’s chain.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of May 30, 1854 defined
the boundaries of the Territories of Kansas and
Nebraska and caused the Commissioner of the General
Land Office to appoint a Surveyor General for
the two territories. The Surveyors General Office
consisted of a Chief Clerk, Chief Draftsman, Draftsmen,
copyists, clerks, accountants and messengers.
Deputy Surveyors (the surveyors who conducted
the actual surveying) were paid by the mile of
surveying at the rate of $12.00 for standard lines
(Standard Parallels and Guide Meridians); $7.00
for exterior lines of Townships and $5.00 for
interior of subdivisions.
All surveys must have a reference point or Point
of Beginning. For Kansas, this point is known
as the Initial Point for the Sixth Principal Meridian.
This point was established by U. S. Surveyors
Charles A. Manners and Joseph Ledlie on June 11,
1855 and is near the present town of Mahaska,
Kansas.
Manners had been ordered by John Calhoun, Surveyor
General for the Kansas and Nebraska Territories
(appointed August 26, 1854), to proceed west on
the 40th parallel of latitude north (now the Kansas-Nebraska
border) for 108 miles, from the point of beginning
on the west bank of the Missouri River, to reach
this point. Why 108 miles? a surveyor can survey
a line for nine miles before having to resort
to using spherical geometry and trigonometry to
correct for the earth's curvature. After nine
miles, the surveyors could stop and make corrections
from astronomical observations, then continue
on. The number 108 is divisible by nine, thence
the number was chosen.
It was from this point that the survey of the
public lands in Kansas and Nebraska, most of Colorado
and Wyoming and a part of South Dakota began.
The selection of this particular point has determined
the shape of much of the American West as we know
it today.
The Initial Point of the 1st Guide Meridian
East was run before the 6th P.M. and was used
as the initial Meridian for all of Kansas to the
East. After determining this point, located between
ranges 8 and 9 east, in Marshall County, Joseph
Ledlie and Charles Manners parted company; Ledlie
went south and Manners headed north to begin to
run the parallels. For those in the eastern part
of Kansas, the 1st Guide Meridian East is actually
more significant than the 6th P.M. which is the
primary guideline for the rest of Kansas. Many
KSLS members are also members of “ Surveyors
of the 6th P.M.” which was responsible for
re-monumenting the initial point of 6th P. M.
in 1987.
(Click on the illustration to
enlarge)
The surveyors in Kansas generally used a circumferature
or compass (Picture A,) an instrument called a
transit (Picture B). These devices, along with
a Burt’s Solar Compass, or a surveyor’s
compass on a Jacob staff, were used for alignment
and determining the astronomical bearing of a
surveyed line. The distances were measured with
a measuring device called a chain. The chain prescribed
for surveying Kansas for the most part was a 4-pole
or 66 foot chain with 100 links. (Picture C.)
Instrument makers like Gurley produced hundreds
of surveying compasses and measuring chains at
reasonable prices for use in the enormous Public
Land Survey. For more information about antique
surveying instruments, please go to www.surveyhistory.org
(Click on an illustration to enlarge)
This means the survey party had to measure 80
chains to obtain a measurement of one mile. The
chain had to be held taut and not allowed to follow
the natural contour of the terrain. If the terrain
was too steep, a 2-pole or 33-foot chain was used.
From the Initial Point, the Sixth Principal
Meridian running true north and south, was established
and the Standard Parallels and Guide Meridians
were surveyed. As the Standard Parallels were
completed, the contracts for the exterior lines
of the Townships were let.
Township lines were set six miles apart from
each other going South from the 40th parallel
North (for Kansas) and Range lines were set six
miles apart both East and West of the Sixth Principal
Meridian. The Townships were numbered, starting
with One for the first six mile increment, Two
for the second and so forth, giving each Township
in Kansas the subscript of South. The first Township
is called Township One South, the second Township
Two South, etc. The Range lines were numbered
from the Sixth Principal Meridian going East and
West, again in six mile increments. The first
Range East of the 6th P. M. is called Range One
East, the second Range Two East and so forth.
The same applied for the western side of the 6th
P. M. Every fifth Township line or every 30 miles,
a correction for the curvature of the earth was
applied in order to keep things "squared"
up.
(Click on an illustration to enlarge)
Once the Township and Range lines were in place,
then the surveyors started subdividing these areas
into one mile rectangular parcels known as Sections.
They would start at the Southeast corner of the
Township, go West one mile, then North six miles,
marking each "half-mile" and "mile"
corner in the manner prescribed by the Manual
of Instructions. At each mile or Section corner,
they would survey to the East and connect to the
Section corner already in place, making any corrections
for alignment, then survey back to the West and
place the "half-mile" marker one-half
way in between. These corners are designated as
"mile" and "half-mile" so
the reader can visualize the placement of these
monuments. The "mile" markers are called
Section Corners and the "half-mile"
markers are called Quarter Corners. Each Section
has four section corners and four quarter corners,
all of them being common to the respective adjacent
sections.
Monuments were placed every half mile and painstakingly
described in the surveyor’s notebook so
that later surveyors could identify that marker
as genuine. Below is a picture of the first monument
laid in Leavenworth County under PLSS guidelines.
Please note, removing or disturbing a survey monument
is punishable under Kansas law (KSA 21-3724) This
marker, was removed many years ago while the ground
was being worked, but had been replaced and remonumented
properly at the time of its displacement. It is
currently in the safekeeping of Leavenworth County.
Errors
in Measurement
Early surveyors were often teased about being
“nomads with sticks, trying to make a curved
planet fit into a flat system.” What happened
when the surveyor connected to the Section Corners
on the Township line along the North of the Township
or the Range line bordering the west side of the
Township and did not quite measure the exact distance
when he checked in? It was impractical to go back
and re-survey the previous work and make any corrections
so all error (either short or long) was thrown
in to the last one-half mile along the northern
and western tiers of the Township. These sections
commonly vary from 160 acres.
Even though the sections were surveyed from the
South to the North, the numbering system for Sections
begins with One at the northeast corner, then
continues going West until Section Six is reached,
then the first section to the South of Section
Six is numbered Section Seven and the numbering
goes back to the East and continues in this serpentine
fashion until Section Thirty-Six is reached in
the Southeast corner of the Township. See the
diagram below.
(Click on an illustration to enlarge)
What is a section? A section is a parcel of land
which was intended to be one mile square and contain
640 acres. A section can be divided into halves,
quarters, quarter-quarters, etc. See the illustration
below for some of the configurations.
(Click on the illustration to
enlarge)
Glossary
of Terms
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