PLSS Trivia–How does your State stack up
Several days ago there was discussion about the necessity, or lack thereof, for including certain information relative to the PLSS in descriptions for tracts surveyed. Above is the layout for the State of Kansas. The north boundary is the 40th Parallel and the baseline for all work in Kansas. The location of the Sixth Principal Meridian is shown to be 108 miles (18 townships) west of the intersection of the Missouri River with the 40th Parallel. Of the 105 counties, only three are split by the P.M. A total of 59 are completely to the west of the P.M. and a total of 43 are to the east. All townships are SOUTH.
If one is writing a description in all but three counties the identification of the county name effectively eliminates the need to add the EAST or WEST of the 6th P.M. Including the SOUTH is unimportant as there is no NORTH. So one might call out something like: The southwest quarter of Section 14, Township 28, Range 20, Kiowa County, Kansas. We find such wording routinely in old deeds prepared by non-surveyors. On the other hand, most surveyors today will include the full description: The southwest quarter of Section 14, Township 28 South, Range 20 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, Kiowa County, Kansas.
The maximum number of Ranges west of the P.M. is 43. The maximum number of Ranges east of the P.M. is 25. The maximum number of Townships South of the 40th Parallel is 35. The standard parallels are every five Townships. Note that many counties, especially in the western part of the State, have one or two boundaries running along standard parallels. Many counties are rectangular or nearly so due to the minor jogs created along the standard parallels. Only 10 counties have a river forming some part of their boundary. Only the Missouri River and the Kansas/Big Blue River are used as county boundaries,
The two-letter county identifiers appear on automobile license plates so one can determine quite easily the home county for that vehicle. A common traveling game to play with youngsters is to have them learn those two-letter county identifiers and then try to find the vehicle the most distant from its home. It’s a great way to educate them a bit about geography. Kansas City, Kansas is in Wyandotte (WY) and Wichita is in Sedgwick (SG). The University of Kansas at Lawrence is in Douglas (DG), Kansas State University at Manhattan is in Riley (RL) and the State Capitol at Topeka is in Shawnee (SN). The wild west town of Dodge City is in Ford (FO) while the famous cattle town of Abilene is in Dickinson (DK). One of the challenges for the youngsters is to keep track of counties with very similar identifiers such as: CA = Clark; CD = Cloud; CF = Coffey; CK = Cherokee; CL = Cowley; CM = Comanche; CN = Cheyenne; CR = Crawford; CS = Chase; CY = Clay. Learning the ones beginning with “S” is even tougher with 12 possibilities.
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