SUBDIVISION BY SURVEY.

202. The rules for subdivision of sections by actual survey in the field are based upon the laws governing the survey of the public lands. When cases arise which are not covered by these rules, and the advice of the General Land Office in the matter is desired, the letter of inquiry should, in every instance, contain a description of the particular tract or corner, with reference to township, range and section of the public surveys, to enable the office to consult the record; also a diagram showing conditions found, giving distances in chains and links and not in feet.

203. Preliminary to subdivision it is essential to know the actual boundaries of the section, as it can not be subdivided legally until the section corners and quarter-section corners have either been found or restored by proper methods, and the resulting courses and distances determined by survey. The practice of entering a section to survey a tract from only one or two corners, and those perhaps unreliable, is unlawful.

204. The order of procedure is: First, identify or reestablish the boundary corners; next, fix the lines of quarter sections; then, form smaller tracts by equitable and proportionate division, according to the following rules:

205. Subdivision of sections into quarter sections.-Under the provisions of the act of Congress approved February 11, 1805, the course to be pursued in the subdivision of sections into quarter sections is to run straight lines from the established official quartersection corners to the opposite corresponding corners. The point of intersection of the lines thus run will be the corner common to the several quarter sections, or, in other words, the legal center of the section.

Upon the lines closing on the north and west boundaries of a regular township the quarter-section corners are established by the United States surveyors at 40 chains to the north or west of the last interior section corners, and the excess or deficiency in the measurement is thrown into the half mile next to the township or range line, as the case may be.

Where there are double sets of section corners on township and range lines the quarter-section corners for the sections south of the township lines and east of the range lines have not always been established in the field by the United States surveyors, but in subdividing such sections said quarter-section corners should be so

placed as to suit the calculations of the areas of the quarter sections adjoining the township boundaries as expressed upon the official plat, adopting proportionate measurements where the new measurements of the north or west boundaries of the section differ from the original measurements.

206. Subdivision of fractional sections.-The law provides that where opposite corresponding quarter-section corners have not been or can not be fixed, the subdivision-of-section lines should be ascertained by running from the established corners north, south, east or west lines, as the case may be, to the water course, reservation line, or other boundary of such fractional section, as represented upon the official plat. In this the law presumes the section lines surveyed and marked in the field by the United States surveyors to be due north and south or east and west lines, but this is not usually the case. Hence, in order to carry out the spirit of the law, it will be necessary in running the subdivisional lines through fractional sections to adopt mean courses, where the section lines are not due lines, or to run the subdivision-of-section lines parallel to the east, south, west or north boundary of the section, as conditions may require, where there is no opposite section line. (See sec. 197.)

· 207. Subdivision of quarter sections into quarter-quarter sections.— Preliminary to the subdivision of quarter sections, the quarterquarter- or sixteenth-section corners will be established at points midway between the section and quarter-section corners, and between the quarter-section corners and the center of the section, except on the last half mile of the lines closing on irregular boundaries, where they should be placed at 20 chains, proportionate measurement, counting from the regular quarter-section corner.

The quarter-quarter- or sixteenth-section corners having been established as directed above, the center lines of the quarter section will be run straight between opposite corresponding quarter-quarteror sixteenth-section corners on the quarter-section boundaries. The intersection of the lines thus run will determine the legal center of a quarter section.

208. Subdivision of fractional quarter sections.-The subdivisional lines of fractional quarter sections will be run from properly established quarter-quarter- or sixteenth-section corners, with courses governed by the conditions represented upon the official plat, to the lake, water-course or reservation which renders such tracts frac tional. (See sec. 197.)

The above examples of subdivision by survey show the relation of the official measurements and calculated distances to the remeasurements, and indicate the propor tional distribution of the differences.

7

1

4

21.02

20.04

20.01

20.01

Remeasurements.

96'61

19.95

19.98

22.30

20.09

20.12

20.12

20.10

20.10

20.01

20.01 19.98

19.98

209. By "proportionate measurement" is meant a measurement having the same ratio to that recorded in the original field notes as the length of the line by re-measurement bears to its length as given in the record. Reasonable discrepancies between former and new measurements may generally be expected. Errors may occur through many causes and should be as carefully avoided in re-measurements as in original surveys. Instead of the old practice of "adjusting the chain" to suit the former measure, the distance obtained by a precise method is compared with that of the record, and the shortage or surplus is computed by proportion, producing the same result in a more reliable manner. For example: The length of the line from the quarter-section corner on the west boundary of section 2 to the north line of the township, by the United States surveyor's measurement was reported as 43.40 chains, and by the county surveyor's measurement was found to be 42.90 chains; then the distance which the quarter-quarter- or sixteenth-section corner should be located north of the quarter-section corner would be determined by proportion as follows: As 43.40 chains, the official measurement of the whole distance, is to 42.90 chains, the county surveyor's measurement of the same distance, so is 20 chains, original measurement, to 19.77 chains by the county surveyor's measurement, showing that by proportionate measurement in this case the quarter-quarter- or sixteenth-section corner should be set at 19.77 chains north of the quarter-section corner, instead of 20 chains north of said corner, as represented on the official plat. In this manner the discrepancies between original and new measurements are equitably distributed. 210. By way of recapitulation it should be emphasized that when entrymen have acquired title to certain legal subdivisions they have become the owners of the identical ground area represented by the same subdivisions upon the official plat. It is a matter of expert or technical procedure to mark out the legal subdivisions called for in a patent, and entrymen are advised that a competent surveyor should be employed. The surveyor must necessarily identify the section boundaries and locate the legal center of the section in order to determine the boundaries of a quarter section. Then, if the boundaries of quarter-quarter sections, or fractional lots, are to be determined on the ground, the boundaries of the quarter section must be measured, and the sixteenth-section corners thereon should be fixed in accordance with the proportional distances represented upon the approved plat, thereupon the legal center of the quarter section

"

may be duly located. Thus will be produced in the field the figure represented upon the plat, every part of the former in true propor tion to the latter, where the elements of absolute distance and area have given away to corresponding proportional units as defined by fixed monuments established in the original survey.

FRAGMENTARY SUBDIVISION OF TOWNSHIPS.

211. In the preceding articles covering the subject of subdivision of townships every assumption was based upon initiating the subdivisional survey upon regularly established exteriors, or, when necessary, a sectional guide meridian or a sectional correction line, or both, were to be established, upon which rested the control of the subdivision of the township. The subdivision of every full township may always be governed by the aforestated rules, but many other factors operate in determining the method and order of procedure to be adopted in the instance of fractional townships which have no linear south or east boundary, or in the case of continuing with the survey of partially subdivided townships, where one or more of the previously established section lines may be found to be defective in respect to the rectangular limit, or where partially surveyed sections, or sections containing outlying areas protracted as surveyed, are to be completed. The surveyor can not hope to master the subject of fragmentary subdivision of townships until he has become thoroughly familiar with every question relating to the subdivision of sections, nor is it possible to give in the Manual an example of every intricate problem which may be encountered in the field; thus the following discussion deals primarily with the principles, which must be considered in the field, operating to control the surveyor's method and order of procedure. It is possible, however, that cases may arise so complex in their character as to produce a feeling of doubt relative to the proper solution of the problem; in which case the surveyor will at once communicate with the proper supervising officer, submitting information, by letter and diagram, of the exact condition as found by him, and the necessary instructions will be forwarded as soon as practicable.

FRACTIONAL TOWNSHIPS.

212. Where by reason of the presence of a large meanderable body of water, impassable objects, a State or reservation or grant boundary, or for other similar reasons a township is made fractional