This lesson on the Public Lands Survey System is brought to you by Shepp.
There are 36 sections in a township and and each section is a mile by a mile. Or 80 chains by 80 chains as they were originally measured. Chain is 66 feet and had 100 links in each chain. A township is 6 sections by 6 sections. Corners were set at the 4 section corners and at the quarter corners which was as far as sections were broken down during Original surveys. Anything broken down further than that was performed after the fact. The fact that you see giant squares all across this land when you fly over it is due to this system which was designed in part by Thomas Jefferson as the country looked for ways to easily disperse the land it held in a fashion that would be easy to categorize list. Township lines and Range lines control the labeling for each township. Township lines run east to west and are used for the north/south measurement and range lines run north south. This results in a grid you can point to location from as there are different baselines and meridian points for different areas. Township 3 south, Range 11 east, San Bernadino Meridian would be 3 townships south and 11 east of the meridian point. The NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of the SE 1/4, Section 8, T3E R11S, San Bernardino Meridian is a locatable and perfectly retractable description for a real 10 acre chunk of land in this system.