Editing Public Land Survey System (section)

===Information to be recorded===

Records kept by the surveyors during the execution of the work varied over time.  Furthermore, how well individual surveying parties actually met the requirements or recommendations at the time, also varied.  The following is a list<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1X1VAAAAMAAJ&q=theory%20and%20practice%20of%20surveying%201913&pg=PP1 |first1= J. B. |last1= Johnson |first2= Leonard S. |last2= Smith |title= The Theory And Practice of Surveying |publisher= Wiley & Sons |location= New York |edition= 17th |year= 1913 |oclc= 221005352 |access-date= 2020-10-19 |archive-date= 2022-04-18 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220418163608/https://books.google.com/books?id=1X1VAAAAMAAJ&q=theory%20and%20practice%20of%20surveying%201913&pg=PP1 |url-status= live }}</ref> of the more commonly required landscape and surveying items that were either required or requested be noted, over much of the nineteenth century.

* The precise length of every line run, noting all necessary offsets therefrom, with the reason and mode thereof.
* The species and diameter of all "bearing trees", with the course and distance of the same from their respective corners; and the precise relative position of witness corners to the true corners.
* The kinds of materials (earth or stone) of which mounds are constructed—the fact of their being conditioned according to instructions—with the course and distance of the "pits", from the centre of the mound, where necessity exists for deviating from the general rule.
* The name, diameter, and distance on line to all trees which the line intersects.
* The distance at which the line first intersects and then leaves every settler's claim and improvement; prairie; river, creek, or other "bottom"; or swamp, marsh, grove, and wind fall, with the course of the same at both points of intersection; also the distances of ascents, summits, and descents of all remarkable hills and ridges, with their courses and estimated height, in feet, above the level land of the surrounding country, or above the bottom lands, ravines, or waters near which they are situated.
* All streams of water which the line crosses; the distance on line at the points of intersection and their widths on line. In cases of navigable streams, their width will be ascertained between the meander corners, as set forth under the proper head.
* The land's surface, whether level, rolling, broken, or hilly.
* The soil, whether first, second, or third rate.
* The several kinds of timber and undergrowth, in the order in which they predominate.
* Bottom lands were to be described as wet or dry, and if subject to inundation, state to what depth.
* Springs of water, whether fresh, saline, or mineral, and the course of the stream flowing from them.
* Lakes and ponds, describing their banks and giving their height, and also the depth of water and whether it be pure or stagnant.
* Towns and villages; Indian towns and wigwams; houses or cabins; fields, or other improvements; sugar tree groves, sugar camps, mill seats, forges, and factories.
* Coal banks or beds; peat or turf grounds; minerals and ores; with particular description as to quality and extent, and all diggings therefore; also salt springs and licks. All reliable information that could be obtained respecting these objects, whether they be on the immediate line or not, was to appear in the general description at the end of the notes.
* Roads and trails, with their directions, whence and whither.
* Rapids, cataracts, cascades, or falls of water, with the height of their fall in feet.
* Precipices, caves, sink-holes, ravines, stone quarries, ledges of rocks, with the kind of stone they afford.
* Natural curiosities, interesting fossils, petrifactions, organic remains; ancient works of art, such as mounds, fortifications, embankments, ditches, or objects of like nature.
* The variation of the needle must be noted at all points or places on the lines where there is found any material change of variation, and the position of such points must be perfectly identified in the notes.
The following table indicates some distance and area conversions in the PLSS:

{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #99aacc; margin:auto;"
|-
!bgcolor="#99aacc" colspan="7"|
|-
!
!align="right"|Dimensions<br/>(miles)
!align="right"|<br/>(mi<sup>2</sup>)
!align="right"|Area<br/>(acres)
!align="right"|<br/>(m<sup>2</sup>)
!align="right"|<br/>(km<sup>2</sup>)
!align="left"|Notes
|-
! bgcolor="#87ceeb" colspan="7" |
|- valign="top"
!align="right"|Quadrangle/check
|align="right"|24 by 24
|align="right"|576
|align="right"|{{convert|576|mi2|acre|0|disp=number}}
|
|align="right"|{{convert|576|mi2|km2|sigfig=3|disp=number}}
|Usually 16 townships
|- valign="top"
!align="right"|Township
|align="right"|6 by 6
|align="right"|36
|align="right"|{{convert|36|mi2|acre|0|disp=number}}
|
|align="right"|{{convert|36|mi2|km2|sigfig=3|disp=number}}
|Usually 36 sections
|- valign="top"
!align="right"|Section
|align="right"|1 by 1
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|{{convert|1|mi2|acre|0|disp=number}}
|
|align="right"|{{convert|1|mi2|km2|sigfig=3|disp=number}}
|- valign="top"
!align="right"|Half-section
|align="right"|1 by {{frac|1|2}}
|align="right"|{{frac|1|2}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/2|mi2|acre|0|disp=number}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/2|mi2|m2|sigfig=3|disp=number}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/2|mi2|km2|sigfig=3|disp=number}}
|
|- valign="top"
!align="right"|Quarter-section
|align="right"|{{frac|1|2}} by {{frac|1|2}}
|align="right"|{{frac|1|4}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/4|mi2|acre|0|disp=number}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/4|mi2|m2|sigfig=3|disp=number}}
|
|- valign="top"
!align="right"|Half of quarter-section
|align="right"|{{frac|1|2}} by {{frac|1|4}}
|align="right"|{{frac|1|8}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/8|mi2|acre|0|disp=number}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/8|mi2|m2|sigfig=3|disp=number}}
|- valign="top"
!align="right"|Quarter of quarter-section
|align="right"|{{frac|1|4}} by {{frac|1|4}}
|align="right"|{{frac|1|16}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/16|mi2|acre|0|disp=number}}
|align="right"|{{convert|1/16|mi2|m2|sigfig=3|disp=number}}
|
|
|}