TOWNSHIPS In 1785 the Congress of the Confederacy enacted that the "Western Territory" be divided into "townships six miles square by lines running due north and south and others crossing them at right angles." This is called the rectangular system and with one minor exception has never been departed from since this first enactment. The one exception is a small area in Ohio.
In theory, therefore, the entire public domain is divided into squares called townships, each with their sides running due north and south, and east and west, and each containing 36 sq. mi.
The manner in which townships are located and described is by numbering them north and south and ranging them east and west of control lines called Base Lines and Meridians. The Meri dians are lines running due north and south and are known in a few cases by number, but in most cases by name. The Base Lines, which bear the same number or name as the Meridian to which they are attached, are lines crossing the Meridians at right angles and running therefore due east and west. In describing the
control of a township the Meridian alone is given; no mention is made, nor need be made, of the Base Line.
The location of these various control lines can be learned only by experience, but no difficulty is presented in this, as they are not very numerous, and since most of them are named either after the states through which they run or some prominent natural feature, their identification in most cases is very simple. There is very great variation in the number of townships con trolled by the different meridians, some, such as the Ute, control ling only a few townships, while the Fifth Principal Meridian controls the entire States of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, and a great part of Minnesota and South Dakota.