SECTION

A unit of land area, generally equal to one square mile or 640 acres (259 hectares). Thirty-six sections also comprise a Township (6 miles long by 6 miles wide). The section is part of a description of the location of land using the survey system (Public Land Survey System: PLSS) of the United States Government and includes the 40-acre subdivision within a quarter, section, township and range. The public land survey system is based on the concept of a township as a square parcel of land six miles on each side. Its location is established as being so many six-mile units east of a north-south line (called the meridian) and so many six-mile units north or south of an east-west line (called the baseline). The township is described by township and range, e.g., T.4N, R.23E. Each township is further divided into 36 parts called sections one mile square (each section measuring 5,280 feet on each side). A typical section containing 640 acres may be further subdivided into quarters (measuring 2,640 feet on each side). The quarter of a section is equal to 160 acres and described as the NW1/4 or the NE1/4 or the SW1/4 or the SE1/4 of that particular section. The quarter section may be divided into four quarters, each being 1/16 of a section, or 40 acres (measuring 1,320 feet on each side). Each sixteenth is described as the NW1/4 or the NE1/4 or the SW1/4 or the SE1/4 of that particular quarter section. A person must determine which is north on a map (usually at the top) in this case the easterly direction would be to the right, south to the bottom, and west to the left. The written location of a specific 40-acre parcel of land would be NW1/4 of the NW1/4 of Section 13, T.4N., R.23E. Some sections may contain more or less acreage than 640.