Introduction to the Public Land Survey System
The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a legal land reference system set up to
ease the inventory and transfer of property. The original PLSS surveys in Wisconsin
were conducted over 100 years ago. The task of present-day land surveyors, includes the
retracing of the original lines, and further subdividing sections.
Today almost all land transactions
in the 30 western-most states are described with this section,
township, and range system.
The position of a PLSS corner, a corner of a township or a corner of one of it's 36 sections, is defined by
the original monument, and whether or not it's placement was mathematically correct. Many early monuments were made of wood, stone or
other natural materials susceptible to decay and destruction. Since many monuments have been lost or
destroyed over the years, retracement surveys are conducted to reestablish previously surveyed boundary lines.
New, sturdy monuments are placed where the old monuments were located, at the specified corners.
PLSS corner remonumentation efforts have stepped up in recent years as
the demand for accurate cadastral maps
has increased with the implementation of Wisconsin's land records
modernization activities. The integration of the PLSS reference system
with the National Spatial Reference System system will involve
re-establishing these corners and relating
them to the mathematical framework of the NSRS.
Further information about the Wisconsin Land Information Program's initiatives
on land records modernization can be found on the WLIP's homepage,
maintained by the Wisconsin
Land Information Board.
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Section, Township and Range System
For an excellent tutorial on PLSS descriptions using the section, township and range system, visit the
Wisconsin DNR
The system of Section, Township and Range can be described by the rules of survey from the 1973
Manual of Surveying Instruction, provided below:
The public lands shall be divided by north and south lines run according to the true meridian,
and by others crossing them at right angles, so as to form townships six miles square ...
The corners of the townships must be marked with progressive numbers from the beginning;
each distance of a mile between such corners must be also distinctly marked with marks different
from those of the corners.
The township shall be subdivided into sections, containing as nearly as many be, six hundred
and forty acres each, by running parallel lines through the same from east to west and from
south to north at the distance of one mile from each other (originally at the end of every two miles,
but amended in 1800), and marking corners at the distance of each half mile. The sections shall be
numbered, respectively, beginning with the number one in the northeast section, and proceeding
west and east alternately through the township with progressive numbers
until the thirty-six be completed.
The procedure for the surveying of public lands results in the following subdivisions, illustrated by
the graphics below:
• Division into quadrangles (tracts) approximately 24 mi on a side (after about 1840)
• Division of quadrangles into townships (16), approximately 6 mi on a side
• Division of townships into sections (36), approximately 1 square mile
• Subdivision of sections (usually by a local surveyor)
