Prairie Land Systems

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Prairie Land Systems

• Gordon Williams
• AFHS Oct 6, 2003

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Geography Lesson I

• Latitude
• Imaginary E-W lines around the globe
• Parallel to equator
• Position indicated in degrees
• Zero degrees is equator
• North Pole is 90 degrees North
• South Pole is 90 degrees South

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Geography Lesson II

• Longitude
• Imaginary N-S lines from pole to pole
• All converge at the poles
• Called Meridians
• Zero is the meridian through Greenwich
• Position indicated in degrees East and West of
  Greenwich

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History Lesson I

• All lands draining into Hudson Bay granted to the
  Governor and Company of Adventurers Trading into
  Hudson Bay (The Hudsons Bay Company) by King
  Charles in 1670
• Known as Ruperts Land

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History Lesson II

• Dominion of Canada formed in 1867
• Acquired Ruperts Land from HBC in 1869
• 300,000
• 4,500,000 acres of land (5 of all the arable
  land in western Canada)

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History Lesson III

• Began survey of the Prairie in 1869
• Anticipation of land rush
• Good farm land in central Canada mostly taken
• Started at Red River Settlement
• Metis at Red River for generations
• Held land in River Lots 2 miles deep

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History Lesson IV

• Not consulted by Dominion Government
• Thought their land was being taken
• Survey sparked rebellion
• First Riel Rebellion 1869-1870
• Province of Manitoba formed 1870 (13,000 sq mi
  postage stamp)
• Survey restarted in 1871

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Dominion Land Survey (DLS)

• Basic unit is the township
• Approximately 6 miles square
• 36 sections of one square mile
• Plus allowances for road access
• Sections
• 640 acres, more or less
• 4 quarters, 160 acres, more or less
• 16 legal subdivisions (lsds), 40 acres

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Sections in a Township
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Legal Subdivisions in a Section
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Road Allowances
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Layout of Townships

• Began along 49th parallel of Latitude
• 10 Miles W of junction of Red and Pembina Rivers
  (Longitude 97 degrees, 27 minutes West)
• E-W rows called Townships
• N-S columns called Ranges

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Townships and Ranges

• Township rows numbered north from 49th parallel
  of latitude (US border)
• South edge of Twp 1 at US border
• Twp 126 at north boundary of provinces
• Range columns numbered east and west, starting at
  the Principal Meridian

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Correction Lines I

• Sections and townships square
• Earths surface is curved
• Adjustment necessary to keep Ranges running N-S
  and Townships running E-W
• Between Twps 2 and 3 and every 4 Twps thereafter

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Correction Lines II

• Ranges on the north side of a Correction Line are
  shifted westward, with the amount of shift
  increasing as the Range numbers increase
• To keep the shift to reasonable amounts, the
  survey plan established new reference meridians
  approximately every four degrees west of the
  Principal

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Meridians I

• First (Principal) - 97 27
• Second - 102
• Third - 106
• Fourth - 110
• Fifth - 114
• Sixth - 118

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Meridians II
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Range Numbering

• Except with reference to the First Meridian, all
  Ranges are numbered west
• MB-SK boundary between Rge 29 and Rge 30 to Twp
  78, then along 2nd Meridian
• 34 Ranges between 1st and 2nd Meridian
• 30 Ranges between all other Meridians

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DLS Results

• 50 years
• Land staked on ground with
• Earth mounds
• Wooden posts
• Iron bars
• Southern Manitoba to NE BC
• 1,100,000 quarter sections
• 178 million acres

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DLS Land Description I

• Any quarter section uniquely identified
• Five pieces of information
• Quarter
• Section number
• Township number
• Range number
• Reference Meridian and direction

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(No Transcript)
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DLS Land Description II

• NW 6-14-17 W1 (WPM)
• NE 12-19-2 E1M
• NW 20-24-28 W4M

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DLS Special Sections I

• Hudsons Bay Sections (4,500,000 acres Sections
  8 and 26)
• CPR Sections (25,000,000 acres, 20 mi both sides
  of railway odd numbers)
• Other Railway Lands
• School Sections (11 and 29)

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DLS Special Sections II
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National Topographic System

• Only part of Canada surveyed under DLS or other
  systems
• Still need a way to reference areas and identify
  map areas
• National Topographic System (NTS) based directly
  on Latitude and Longitude

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NTS Primary Quadrangles I

• 8 Longitude by 4 Latitude
• Regular numbering
• Units digit increase from South to North
• Tens and hundreds digits increase East to West
• Origin (SE corner of Quadrangle 0) is 40 N
  Latitude and 48 W Longitude

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NTS Primary Quadrangles II
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NTS Secondary Quadrangles I

• Primary Quadrangles (e.g., 82) divided into 16
  Lettered Quadrangles, A to P, or quarters
• Lettered Quadrangles divided into Sixteenths and
  numbered 1 to 16
• Sixteenths divided into eighths and lettered a to
  h

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NTS Secondary Quadrangles II
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Maps and Map Scales

• Primary Quadrangle (e.g., 82) 11,000,000
• Primary Quarter (82 NW) 1500,000
• Lettered Quadrangle (82P) 1250,000
• Sixteenths (82P 4) 150,000
• Eighths (82P 4/d) 125,000

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• Any Questions?