Since I haven't seen a discussion on surveying techinques with the thread, I'll step into the discussion. When researching land records in the original 13 colonies, and I believe Texas since it enter the Union as an independent Nation, the land will be defined using Metes and Bounds. The land corners were the places of metes and the bounds defined the lines. The metes could be anything that was found in the natural landscape, trees, creeks, hill, etc. some times rock cairns were built to locate the corners or turning points in lines. The boundary lines are marked by bearing lines. The lines are established using compass bearings so you'll get a number like S89 45 15 E which means South 89 degress, 45 minutes, 15 secs east. The measurements were cut the North or the south with the easterly or westerly direction add at the ends. The length of boundary lines were measure in feet, chains, and rods. Chains are 100 feet in length, I can't remember what a rod measures, but the number 16 feet hangs in my mind. (Been too many years since beginning surveying to recall). After the acquistion of the old northwest territory in 1789, the states of Illinois, Indiana, and others, a ordinal system was established to survey all newly found land in the United States. The system established baselines call meridians usually one or two per state. From the meridians Range and Townships were established. Range were the east - west grid numbers and the Townships were the north - south grid numbers. For example R(ange) 18 E(ast) T(township) 10 S(outh) Provided a base coordinate. This area defined a square. Inside the square is divided into Sections 36 sections. Each section contains 640 acres and is 1 mile square. The sections are quartered and then the 1/4s are quartered. So you get the SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Sec X. R x Tx. Hope this clarifies the land surveys used in the south Deborah Byrd [email protected]