Government Survey System

After the Revolutionary War, the new U.S. government took ownership of all land that had previously belonged to England. Because there was so much land, the government needed an organized and efficient way to measure and describe it. To solve this, Congress created the government survey system, also known as the rectangular survey system.This system is based on a simple idea: land can be identified by using two crossing reference lines. By dividing land into a large grid of squares, each piece of property can be described by its location within that grid. Every square in the grid is uniquely identified, making land descriptions clear and consistent.