Re: [Az-Geocaching] Bench Mark or not?

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Author: ShadowAce
Date:  
To: listserv
Subject: Re: [Az-Geocaching] Bench Mark or not?
Appears you found a Township, Range and Section marker.
http://mapserver.co.yavapai.az.us/interactive/map.asp will let you search
for areas within Yavapai county by Township Range and Sections.

Basically you found a corner of the two areas. :)

*Introduction:* The United States Public Land Survey (USPLS) started with
the Land Ordinance of 1785 and covers all US land that was not settled by
the time of the official government survey. It does not include the east
coast states including Kentucky and Tennessee or Texas. Small areas of other
states that were settled before the survey also technically excluded. This
explains the odd shapes of many mining claims in the west. Latter title
transfers followed USPLS lines.

Legal descriptions to 1 mile square sections have 4 parts: the
State/Meridian, Township, Range and section number. Note that an official
legal description always works from small to large areas, for example NW1/4,
sec. 12, T.122N, R.71W, South Dakota, Fifth Principal Meridian.

- *Meridian* These are similar to UTM zones. Both apply to large areas
based on a line of longitude, both are often left out of field data, and the
position is not uniquely defined without them! The position of the principal
meridian for any area, in contrast to UTM zones, is largely historical and
arbitrary. The area governed by each Meridian, also in contrast to UTM
zones, is irregular in size and shape, but it frequently follows state
lines. Actually it is more correct to say that the states were formed
according to the areas covered by the Meridians. Some of these areas include
several large states while others include only a small part of a single
state. Some of the smaller areas were caused by changes in tribal
reservations. The default principal meridian for this program (Principal) is
good for (as you might guess) Montana.

- *Township* These occur at 6 mile intervals east and west of the
principal meridian. Township values are normally whole numbers starting at
1, but some exceptions occur. Township lines are normally adjusted every 4th
line to correct for the spherical nature of the earth. These are called
standard parallels.

- *Range* These occur at 6 mile intervals north and south of a base
line that is associated with each principal meridian. The position of the
base line for each principal meridian is also historical and arbitrary.
Range values are normally whole numbers starting at 1, but some exceptions
occur. Range lines are normally adjusted every 4th line to correct for the
spherical nature of the earth. These are called guide meridians.

- *Sections* The intersection of Range lines and Township lines define
6 by 6 mile squares called Townships, which are divided into 36 sections.
These are normally 1 by 1 mile squares, but some are altered to correct for
the spherical earth. Most of these departures are pushed to the northern and
western tiers of sections before the next standard parallels and guide
meridians. Others are altered by simple survey errors. Note that old survey
errors have legal precedence over new survey results so the odd-looking
lines stay put. Section numbers always range between 1 and 36. Sections are
normally divided by repeated quartering, but this is beyond the scope of
this program.


**

On 12/29/05, Robert & Linda Smith <> wrote:
>
> While doing some maintenance on a cache for a friend of mine I found
> this mark that I thought was a "Bench Mark", I guess not. It was placed
> by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior - Bur. of Land Management. The
> marking on it seems to be "T14NR2W" below that is "1/4" and below that
> is S8 | S9 so I guess I have NOT found a bench mark. Oh well...
>
> Bob Smith, Prescott
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