Survey township
mostly-square areas used for land descriptions in the U.S.
A survey township, sometimes called a Congressional township or just township, as used by the United States Public Land Survey System and by Canada's Dominion Land Survey is a nominally-square area of land that is nominally six survey miles (about 9.66 km) on a side. Each 36-square-mile (about 93.2 km2) township is divided into 36 sections of one square mile (640 acres, roughly 2.6 km2) each. The sections can be further subdivided for sale.
The townships are referenced by a numbering system that locates the township in relation to a principal meridian (north-south) and a base line (east-west). For example, Township 2 North, Range 4 East is the 4th township east of the principal meridian and the 2nd township north of the base line.
History in the US
Standardized township (exterior) lines were originally surveyed and platted by the United States General Land Office in 1787 as part of the Seven Ranges survey of the initial portion of the "Territory Northwest of the River Ohio." Later survey crews subdivided the townships into section (interior) lines. Virtually all lands covered by this system were sold according to those boundaries and are marked on the U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps.
Prior to standardization, some of the Ohio Lands (the United States Military District, the Firelands and the Connecticut Western Reserve) were surveyed into townships of 5 miles (8.0 km) on each side. These are often known as Congressional Townships.
Sections are divided into quarter-sections of 160 acres (65 ha) each and quarter-quarter sections of 40 acres (16 ha) each.
The public source identifies “Survey township” as mostly-square areas used for land descriptions in the U.S. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Survey, township and mostly-square.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Survey township”, the useful work is to connect “mostly-square areas used for land descriptions in the U.S” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7647102. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1787.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Survey township” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.