How every section in the West is divided. (Reproduced in Everett Dick, The Lure of the Land: A Social History of the Public Lands from the Articles of Confederation to the New Deal. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1970. plates following p.178.)

Both towns and farms conformed to the federal survey grid. In some instances, even rivers and streams were reshaped to fit the lines on the land.

Return to Lesson Ten.