The Public Land Survey Landscape in the Intermountain U.S. West

Abstract

Most of the United States was surveyed before settlement with a rectangular survey system called the Public Land Survey (PLS). Surveyors mapped out square townships that were subdivided into one-square-mile sections that could in turn be further divided for sale or homesteading. The system began in northwest Ohio and spread westward through the Midwest and across the Great Plains. Farms took the form of these squares, roads ran along section lines, and county and other boundaries were aligned along them. The effects of the PLS in rural areas are well known; the rectangular survey produced a characteristic checkerboard pattern in agricultural areas and resulted in higher road densities in surveyed areas. The survey is often treated as homogenous, and a ubiquitous sign of federal authority inscribed on the land. This statement is not true in the Intermountain West; although the PLS was applied throughout this area, the extent of the PLS landscape in the interior West is small. There are several distinct types of gridded landscapes distinguished by the presence of agriculture and urbanization. The future spread of these landscapes is likely to be limited, although some will likely shift between types.