Land Surveyors Dictionary

A

A (Land Status Records) – Acre(s)
ABC – Airborne Control
ACQ (Land Status Records) – Acquired
ACSM – American Congress on Surveying and Mapping
ACT OF CONG (Land Status Records) – Act of Congress
ADHE (Land Status Records) – Adjusted homestead entry
ADM S (Land Status Records) – Administrative site
ADP – Automatic Data Processing
A&E – Architect and Engineer
AEC (Land Status Records) - Atomic Energy Commission
AF (Land Status Records) – Air Force
AGRI (Land Status Records) – Agriculture, Agricultural
AGRI EXP STA (Land Status Records) – Agriculture Experimental Station
AHA (Land Status Records) – Alaska House Authority
AHE (Land Status Records) – Additional homestead entry
AK – Alaska
AL – Alabama
ALA – Alabama
ALL MIN (Land Status Records ) – All Minerals
ALLOT – Allotment
ALS PS (Land Status Records) - Alaska Public Sale
AM – Amended Monument
AMC – Auxiliary Meander Corner
A&M COL (Land Status Records) – Agriculture and Mechanical College
AMDT (Land Status Records) – Amendment, Amended, Amends
ANCSA – Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
ANS (Land Status Records) – Air Navigation Site
AP – Angle point; also AP-1, AP-2 etc.
APLN (Land Status Records) – Application
APLN EXT (Land Status Records) – Application for extension
APP (Land Status Records) – Appendix
APPROP (Land Status Records) – Appropriation, Appropriate, Appropriated
APPVD (Land Status Records) – Approved
AR – Arkansas
AREA ADM O (Land Status Records) – Area Administrator Order(s)
ARIZ – Arizona
ARK – Arkansas
ARPT (Land Status Records) - Airport
ARRCS (Land Status Records) – Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corp. Sale
ASCE – American Society of Civil Engineers
ASGN (Land Status Records) – Assignment
ASPH (Land Status Records) – Asphalt
ASRHE (Land Status Records) – Additional stockraising homestead entry
AUTH (Land Status Records) – Authorization
AVE LSE (Land Status Records) – Aviation lease
AZ – Arizona
ABANDONED MILITARY RESERVATION – A military reservation which has been transferred to the Department of the Interior for Administration
ABROGATE – To abolish by authoritative action. To do away with or annul
ABSENTEE OWNER – By law, one cannot be both a resident and an absentee of a given area, state or country. Therefore, an owner who lives in an area other than the one in which land he owns is situated is an absentee owner
ABSTRACT – (noun) A summary or abridgment. A shortened form of a work or record retaining the general sense and unity of the original. (verb) To summarize. To shorten or condense by the omission of words without sacrifice of sense or continuity. See ABSTRACT OF TITLE
ABSTRACT OF TITLE – A condensed history of the title to land, consisting of a synopsis or summary of the material or operative position of all the conveyances, which in any manner affects said land or any estate or interest therein, together with a statement of all liens, charges, or liabilities to which the same may be subject
ABUT – To reach; to touch. In old law, the ends were said to abut, the sides to adjoin. The term “abutting” implies a closer proximity than the term “adjacent”
ABUTTING PROPERTY – The buttings or boundings of lands, showing to what other lands they adjoin
ACCEPTED SURVEY – A survey accepted by the official having Cadastral Survey approval authority. See CADASTRAL SURVEY APPROVAL AUTHORITY and OFFICIAL CADASTRAL SURVEY
ACCESS – The right to enter and leave over the lands of another. See EGRESS;
ARKANSAS DRAINAGE ENTRY – An entry on public lands to which, under Federal statutory authority, Arkansas State drainage charges attach.
ARKANSAS SWAMP LANDS COMPROMISE ACT – Under the terms of this act of April 29, 1898, Arkansas relinquished all rights, title and interest to the remaining unappropriated swamp and overflowed lands within its boundaries (43 U.S.C. sec. 987).
ARROW – An obsolete term for chaining pin.
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION – The name of the instrument embodying the compact made between the Thirteen Original States prior to the adoption of the present constitution.
ASSESSMENT WORK – The annual labor or improvements which must be performed on a valid mining claim location in order for the claimant(s) to maintain a possessory right to the claim as against the United States or third parties. The statutory requirement (43 U.S.C. 28) is that $100 worth of labor or improvements must be made annually on valid claims for which a patent has not been issued.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS – Written instructions to a cadastral surveyor authorizing him to execute a specific part, or all, of a particular survey. Even if the survey has been authorized, a surveyor may not execute it or any part of it without instructions containing his specific assignment. See SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS.
ASTRONOMIC – Of or pertaining to astronomy. See ASTRONOMIC*, ASTRONOMIC LATITUDE*, ASTRONOMIC LONGITUDE*, ASTRONOMIC NORTH*, GEOGRAPHIC POSITION*.
ASTRONOMIC AZIMUTH – At the point of observation, the angle measured from the vertical plane through the celestial pole to the vertical plane through the observed object. Astronomic azimuth is the terrestrial azimuth which results directly from observations on a celestial body: It is measured in the plane of the horizon and is usually reckoned from south (0 ), through west (90 ), north (180 ), and east (270 ) back to south (360 or 0 ). It is affected by the local deflection of the vertical (station error) which, in the United States, produces differences between astronomic and geodetic azimuths of as much as 26” in the mountain regions of the Western States and 10” in the less rugged Eastern States. Astronomic azimuths are sometimes reckoned clockwise or counterclockwise through 180 .
ATTEST – To affirm to be true or genuine. Specifically, to authenticate by signing as a witness; to establish or verify the usage of; to bear witness. See TESTIMONY.
AUTHORITY, PUBLIC LANDS – Article IV Sec. 3, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States established the fundamental authority for public land and resource management upon the adoption of the Constitution in 1787. It states: “Congress shall have the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting territory and property belonging to the United States…” It has been held that this power of Congress is without limitation. See CADASTRAL SURVEY AUTHORITY.
AUTO SURVEYOR – Trade name for an Inertial Positioning System.
AUXILIARY GUIDE MERIDIAN – Where guide meridians have been placed at intervals exceeding the distance of 24 miles (under practice permissible prior to issuance of the 1881 Manual of Surveying Instructions which specified 24 mile tracts), and new governing lines are required, a new guide meridian is established, and a local name is assigned, such as “Twelfth Auxiliary Guide Meridian West,” or “Grass Valley Guide Meridian.” Auxiliary guide meridians are surveyed, in the same manner as guide meridians.
AUXILIARY MEANDER CORNER – An auxiliary meander corner is established at a suitable point on the meander line of a lake lying entirely within a quarter section or on the meander line of an island falling entirely within a section and which is found to be too small to subdivide. A line is run connecting the monument to a regular corner on the section boundary. See SPECIAL MEANDER CORNER.
AVULSION – A river’s sudden change in flow alignment out from its previous left and right banks to a new channel, leaving an identifiable upland area between the abandoned channel and the new channel. The new flow alignment will generally be a shortcut in channel length because of hydraulic considerations. The U.S. Supreme Court in Iowa v. Nebraska 143 US 359 distinguished avulsion from rapid erosion, but some State courts have established different definitions. See Goins v. Merryman 183 Okla. 155. Frequently the elements of sudden and perceptible changes are included in the definitions. See ACCRETION, AVULSION*.
AVULSION, ARTIFICIAL – Man-made or man-induced changes in flow alignment of a river such as to leave an identifiable area of upland between the old and new channels.
AVULSIVE CUTOFF – A river’s action when avulsion takes place; also, describes the area of land enclosed by the old and the new channels.
AZIMUTH – The horizontal direction reckoned clockwise from the meridian plane. See ASTRONOMIC AZIMUTH, GEODETIC AZIMUTH, GRID AZIMUTH.

B

BAL (Land Status Records) - Balance.
BDY; BDRS (Land Status Records) - Boundary, Boundaries.
BEN (Land Status Records) - Bentonite.
BH MER (Land Status Records) - Black Hills Meridian.
BIA (Land Status Records) - Bureau of Indian Affairs.
BIFC - Boise Interagency Fire Center.
BLK (Land Status Records) - Block.
BLM (Land Status Records) - Bureau of Land Management.
BLM-M (Land Status Records) - Bureau of Land Management Manual.
BM (Land Status Records) - Bench Mark.
BM - Erroneously for Boise Meridian.
BO - Bearing Object.
BOISE MER (Land Status Records) - Boise Meridian.
BR - Bearing rock. An obsolete corner marking for a bearing object used on mineral surveys.
BR (Land Status Records) - Bureau of Reclamation.
BSFW (Land Status Records) - Bureau of Sports, Fisheries and Wildlife. Now, 1976, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services,1976.
BT - Bearing Tree.
BACK AZIMUTH - See GEODETIC AZIMUTH.
BACK BEARING - The bearing at the opposite end of a line from the observer as measured from the true meridian at the opposite end of the line. The back bearing on all lines (other than North-South lines) are different from the bearing at the observer’s station. They differ by the amount of convergency of the meridians between the two points.
BACKSHORE (T.R. No. 4) - That zone of the shore or beach lying between the foreshore and the coastline and acted upon by waves only during severe storms, especially when combined with exceptionally high water. See BEACH, SHORE, FORESHORE, COASTLINE.
BACKSIGHT - A sight on a previously established survey point. See BACKSIGHT*.
BANK - The continuous margin along a river or stream where all upland vegetation ceases. See RIGHT BANK, LEFT BANK, BEDS OF NON-NAVIGABLE LAKES AND STREAMS.
BANKHEAD-JONES LANDS - Under Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, of July 22, 1937, the Department of Agriculture was authorized to purchase submarginal farm lands in the Great Plains region for purposes of reclamation, conservation, etc. Approximately 2 million acres were acquired and are termed “Bankhead-Jones Lands.” These lands are now under the administration of the Bureau of Land Management, are in the class of Federal lands called “acquired lands” and are not subject to entry or disposal under the general public land laws. See ACQUIRED LANDS.
BARGAIN AND SALE - In conveyancing, the transferring of property from one to another, upon valuable consideration, by way of sale. A “bargain and sale” deed usually means one which carries no warranty. See DEED, WARRANTY and PATENT.
BARK SCRIBE - To bark scribe a tree monument or bearing tree is to lightly cut the appropriate marks into the bark of the tree without blazing. In the case of certain smooth and thin barked trees, marks thus made will last as long as the tree remains sound. See BLAZE.
BASE LANDS - In a lieu selection or exchange, the lands to which the applicant relinquishes his rights as a basis for his selection. See LIEU SELECTION.
BASELINE - A line fixed by sovereigns along their coasts which is fundamental toward determining the seaward extent of the boundaries. See RULE OF TIDEMARK, STRAIGHT BASELINE.
BASE LINE - A line which is extended east and west on a parallel of latitude from an initial point, and from which are initiated other lines for the Cadastral Survey of the public lands within the area covered by the principal meridian that runs through the same initial point. See BASE LINE*, BASIS PARALLEL.
BASE PLAT - A drawing containing only those details essential to the identification of the legal subdivisions shown on it. Under the manuals of surveying instruction preceding that of 1930, the base plat also contained all cultural and topographic features thought to be desirable. The 1930 and 1947 Manuals of Surveying Instructions called for the use of transparent color overlays to show these features when required. Overprints are not needed where such features may be readily shown on the base drawing without risk of obscuring any essential cadastral data. Color overlays have been used with base plats of areas surveyed by photogrammetric methods.
BASIN - The entire area drained by a main stream and its tributaries.
BASIS PARALLEL - The Base Line, as termed in early surveys.
BATTURE - A marine term, used to denote a bottom of sand, stone or rock mixed together and rising towards the surface of the water; but it is sometimes used to signify the island formed when it has risen above the surface of ordinary high water. Batture differs from alluvium in that batture is the addition of soil to the bed of a stream or lake, while alluvium is an addition to the shores. Hence by reason of such fact the ownership thereof is determined largely along a different line. Both “batture” and alluvium are often referred to as “accretions.” Technically however, the term “accretion” refers to the legal result occurring from the effect of the deposit of alluvium and batture.
BAYOU*
BEACH (T.R. No. 4) - The zone of unconsolidated material that extends landward from the low water line to the place where there is marked change in material or physiographic form or to the line of permanent vegetation (usually the effective limit of storm waves). The seaward limit of the beach – unless otherwise specified – is the mean low water line. A beach includes foreshore and backshore. (Refer to Figure 1). See SHORE, FORESHORE, BACKSHORE, TIDELANDS.
BEARING TREE – A marked tree used as a corner accessory; its distance and direction from the corner being recorded. Bearing trees are identified by prescribed marks cut into their trunks; the species and sizes of the trees are also recorded.
BED – In mining, a stratum in the earth’s crust which has been formed in an approximately horizontal layer. If of rock, it is termed “bedrock.” Also See BEDS OF NONNAVIGABLE LAKES AND STREAMS.
BEDS OF NONNAVIGABLE LAKES AND STREAMS – The areas within the mean high-water lines of a lake, stream or river which are kept practically bare of vegetation from year to year by the wash of the waters; although parts of them are left dry for months at a time. Title to the beds of nonnavigable bodies of water remains in the United States until the shore lands have passed into private ownership. See PROTRACTION, RIPARIAN BOUNDARIES and PARTITION LINES.
BLACK HILLS MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in the western part of South Dakota, it was established in 1878.
BLANK LINE – 1) Where bearings and distances are shown, for information purposes only, across areas not then subject to survey. 2) In Manual of Surveying Instructions 1834, “thence north on a blank line; …” appears used as a random line in specimen field notes.
BLAZE – A mark made upon a tree trunk usually at about breast height. The bark and a small amount of the live wood are removed with an axe or other cutting tool, leaving a flat, smoothed surface which forever brands the tree. On rough-barked tree monuments or bearing trees the appropriate marks are scribed into a smooth, narrow, vertical blaze the lower end of which is about 6 inches above the root crown. The blaze should be just long enough to allow the markings to be made. See OVERGROWTH.
BLAZED LINE – A sufficient number of trees differing from line trees in that they stand within 50 links of and on either side of the line, rather than being intersected by it, are blazed on two sides quartering toward the line. This is done to make the survey line more conspicuous and readily traced in either direction. The blazes are made opposite each other coinciding in direction with the line where the trees stand very near it. They are made closer to each other, toward the line, the farther they are from the line. R.S. sec. 2395; 43 U.S.C. 751 is the law authorizing the marking of trees along surveyed lines, and its requirements are as positive in this matter as are those requiring the erection of monuments. See LINE TREE.
BLOCK – A subdivision of a town site.
BOARD OF LAND APPEALS – Under the direction of a Board Chairman, the board exercises jurisdiction over cases involving appeals from decisions rendered by departmental officials relating to the use and disposition of public lands and their resources and the use and disposition of mineral resources in certain acquired lands and in the submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf. Persons adversely affected by a decision of a BLM officer or examiner have the right to appeal to the board. The Board is in the Office of Hearings and Appeals, the office of the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, as provided at 35 F.R. 10010, June 18, 1970 – 43 C.F.R. 1842.2 (Now 43 C.F.R. part 4). Decisions of the Board on such appeals shall be final for the Department.
BOG – A shallow, low-lying, virtually undrained body of water, where partially decayed vegetation accumulates on the bottom and on the surface to form a mat. Mosses, sedges, grasslike plants and small shrubs eventually take root in the surface mat forming a “boggy” or spongy form of ground. In an advanced stage the water area becomes completely filled and may become what is known as a “peat bog.” See MARSH and SWAMP.
BOISE MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in Idaho; it was established in 1867.
BONA FIDE – In or with good faith; honestly, openly and sincerely. Without deceit or fraud. Actual and genuine.
BONA FIDE RIGHTS – Rights, such as in ownership of land, which are real, actual, genuine and worthy of acceptance. Rights acquired in good faith under the law.
BOUNDARIES, NATIONAL – Boundaries between countries are established by treaties made by the sovereign powers concerned.
BOUNDARIES - A boundary between two States of the United States may be changed by agreement of the State legislatures, but this agreement must be approved by Congress. The United States Congress cannot change a State boundary without the consent of the State, nor can two States by mutual agreement change their common boundary without the consent of Congress. The consent of Congress to change a boundary need not be granted by a special act but may be inferred from subsequent legislation. Several times Congress has given its consent in advance for adjoining States to fix an indefinite water boundary between them. A boundary between a State and a territory is fixed by joint action of Congress and the State. Boundaries between territories are fixed by congressional action alone. Disputes between States regarding boundaries must be settled by the United States Supreme Court, whose decisions are final. It is a well-established principle, recognized by the courts and by Congress, that a State or national boundary line as marked on the ground and accepted by the parties interested is the legal boundary for all purposes whether or not it is the place designated by statute. Nearly all boundaries of States west of the Mississippi, as well as those of many central and southern States, were surveyed under the direction of the General Land Office. Notes of all such surveys, and plats for most of them, are now on file in the Bureau of Land Management, Dept. of Interior, or in the Cartographic Records Div., National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C.
STATE - A boundary between two States of the United States may be changed by agreement of the State legislatures, but this agreement must be approved by Congress. The United States Congress cannot change a State boundary without the consent of the State, nor can two States by mutual agreement change their common boundary without the consent of Congress. The consent of Congress to change a boundary need not be granted by a special act but may be inferred from subsequent legislation. Several times Congress has given its consent in advance for adjoining States to fix an indefinite water boundary between them. A boundary between a State and a territory is fixed by joint action of Congress and the State. Boundaries between territories are fixed by congressional action alone. Disputes between States regarding boundaries must be settled by the United States Supreme Court, whose decisions are final. It is a well-established principle, recognized by the courts and by Congress, that a State or national boundary line as marked on the ground and accepted by the parties interested is the legal boundary for all purposes whether or not it is the place designated by statute. Nearly all boundaries of States west of the Mississippi, as well as those of many central and southern States, were surveyed under the direction of the General Land Office. Notes of all such surveys, and plats for most of them, are now on file in the Bureau of Land Management, Dept. of Interior, or in the Cartographic Records Div., National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C.
BOUNDARY - A line of demarcation between adjoining parcels of land. The parcels of land may be of the same or of different ownership, but distinguished at some time in the history of their descent by separate legal descriptions. A land boundary may be marked on the ground by material monuments placed primarily for the purpose; by fences, roads, and other service structures along the line – or defined by astronomically described points and lines.
BOUNDARY LINE - A line along which two areas meet. A boundary line between privately owned parcels of land is usually termed a property line. If a boundary is a line of the United States public land surveys, it is given a particular designation, such as section line or township line.
BOUNDARY MONUMENT - A material object placed on or near a boundary line to preserve and identify the location of the boundary line on the ground.
BOUNTY LANDS - Portions of the public domain given or donated as a bounty for services rendered, chiefly for military service. See 43 U.S.C.A., sec. 791.
BROKEN BOUNDARY - 1) A boundary of the rectangular system which is a series of line segments representing a boundary which is not a straight line. 2) A boundary consisting of straight line segments which is not part of the rectangular system.
BROKEN BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT - A general term which indicates a distribution of a closing error. Included are: (1) A mathematical adjustment applied to record meander courses which have since become nonriparian; is identical to the compass rule. (2) A mathematical adjustment applied to the record courses of a grant or reservation boundary; it is a rotation and scale change that will retain the original angles and change the lengths of each line segment proportionately according to the record. See GRANT BOUNDARY, IRREGULAR BOUNDARY, NON RIPARIAN BROKEN BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT, ADJUSTMENT*.
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, THE - An agency of the Department of the Interior, it was created July 16, 1946, pursuant to Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1946, which consolidated the functions and activities of the General Land Office and the Grazing Service.

C

(CA) Land Status Records – Communitization Agreement.
CA – California.
(CAD) Land Status Records – Cadastral.
CALIF. – California. See California Land Surveyors.
(CANC) Land Status Records – Cancellation, Cancelled.
(CBWR) Land Status Records – Coos Bay Wagon Road.
(CC) Land Status Records – Cash certificate.
CC – Closing Corner.
(CDI) Land Status Records – Control Document Index.
(CDS) Land Status Records – Coal declaratory statement.
(CE) Land Status Records – Cash entry.
(CERT) Land Status Records – Certificate.
(CFR) Land Status Records - Code of Federal Regulations.
C & GS – (United States) Coast and Geodetic Survey.
(CH, CHS) Land Status Records – Chain, Chains.
(CHE) Land Status Records – Commuted homestead entry.
(CHG) Land Status Records – Change.
(CHIC MER) Land Status Records – Chickasaw Meridian.
(CHOC MER) Land Status Records – Choctaw Meridian.
(CIM MER) Land Status Records – Cimarron Meridian.
(CIRC) Land Status Records – Circular.
(C/L) Land Status Records – Commissioner of Lands.
(CL) Land Status Records – Classification.
(CO) Land Status Records – Company.
CO – Colorado, Colo.
(C of E) Land Status Records – Corp of Engineers.
COLO. – Colorado.
(COMM P) Land Status Records – Community Pit.
(COMM S) Land Status Records – Communication Site.
(CONDEMN) Land Status Records – Condemnation.
(CORP) Land Status Records – Corporation.
(CPG) Land Status Records – Campground.
(CRE) Land Status Records – Credit entry.
(CR MER) Land Status Records – Copper River Meridian.
(CR PER) Land Status Records – Crossing Permit.
(C/T) Land Status Records – Color of Title.
CT – Connecticut.
(CUR PAT) Land Status Records – Curative patent.
CWS – Community watershed.
CADASTRAL ENGINEER – A former title of a Cadastral Surveyor or Land Surveyor in the Bureau of Land Management and the General Land Office.
CADASTRAL ENGINEERING STAFF OFFICER – Former title of the Chief, Division of Cadastral Surveys.
CADASTRAL SURVEY – A survey which creates, marks, defines, retraces or reestablishes the boundaries and subdivisions of the public land of the United States.
CADASTRAL SURVEY APPROVAL AUTHORITY – Prior to becoming an official cadastral survey the field notes must be approved and the plat, field notes and survey must be accepted on behalf of the Director of the Bureau of Land Management by the officer to whom he has delegated this responsibility. See OFFICIAL CADASTRAL SURVEY.
CADASTRAL SURVEY AUTHORITY – The authority derived from the statutory directive (43 U.S.C. 2) that “The Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate shall perform all executive duties appertaining to the surveying … of the public lands.” Other
CERTIORARI – A written instruction issued by a higher court to a lower court requiring the records of a trial be submitted for review or inquiry. If such higher court finds no reason to re-examine the records based on arguments submitted by attorneys, the ruling of the court is "Certiorari denied."
CESSION OF PUBLIC DOMAIN – See ORIGINAL PUBLIC DOMAIN ACQUISITIONS.
CHAIN – The unit of length prescribed by law for the survey of the public lands of the United States. The chain is equivalent to 66 feet or 4 rods, poles, or perches. 10 square chains equals one acre.
CHAINING – The operation of measuring a distance on the earth, using a chain or tape. The corresponding operation, in private surveys, is taping.
CHAINMEN – Those who measure and record the distances in chaining.
CHAIN OF TITLE – A term applied metaphorically to the series of conveyances, or other forms of alienation, affecting a particular parcel of land, arranged consecutively from the Government or original source of title down to the present holder, each of the instruments included being terms a "link."
CHANCERY – See EQUITY.
CHANNEL (T. R. No. 4) – 1) A natural or artificial waterway of perceptible extent which either periodically or continuously contains moving water, or which forms a connecting link between two bodies of water; 2) The part of a body of water deep enough to be used for navigation through an area otherwise too shallow for navigation; 3) A large strait, as the English Channel; 4) The deepest portion of a stream, bay, or strait through which the main volume or current of water flows. See CHANNEL, MAIN; GRADIENT BOUNDARY; THALWEG; RULE OF THALWEG.
CHANNEL, MAIN – As called for as a boundary between Nations or States, the "main channel" of a navigable stream refers to the deepest and most navigable channel as it existed at the time the boundary was surveyed. In the Red River case of Oklahoma vs. Texas in 1923 (260 US 606, 261 US 340, 265 US 493), which involved a non-navigable river, the Supreme Court of the United States declared by unprecedented action that the Texas-Oklahoma boundary was to be determined by a medial line between gradient lines on each bank. It was decided that "… channel extending from one cut-bank to the other, which carries the water in times of a substantial flow… was the only real channel and therefore the main channel. So its medial line must be what was designated as the boundary." (Oklahoma vs. Texas, 258US574). If the river had been navigable, the "rule of thalweg" would have applied, but that section of the Red River is, in fact, not navigable. See MEDIAL LINE, RULE OF THALWEG, GRADIENT BOUNDARY, RED RIVER CASE.
CHICKASAW MERIDIAN – The principal meridian which governs surveys in the northern part of Mississippi; it was established in 1833.
CHIEF, DIVISION OF CADASTRAL SURVEYS – The current title of the BLM officer charged with the survey of the public lands. The title of this officer has changed and evolved over the years since the passage of the Ordinance of May 20, 1785. It has been Geographer of the United States; Surveyor General of the United States; United States Supervisor of Surveys; Chief, Branch of Cadastral Surveys and Cadastral Engineering Staff Officer.
CHOCKTAW MERIDIAN – the principal meridian governing surveys in the central part of Mississippi; it was established in 1821.
CHORD – In surveying and geometry; a straight line joining any two points on an arc, curve, circumference, or surface.
CIMARRON MERIDIAN – The principal meridian which governs surveys in the Oklahoma panhandle; it was established in 1881.
CLAIMANT – An individual, corporation, association, State or local government, etc., asserting title to, or rights in, public lands.
CLAIM JUMPING – Illegally taking possession of a mining claim previously staked by and in legal possession of another. Prior to the passage of statutory laws governing mining claims, claim jumping sometimes took the simple form of staking over another person's claim and then holding it by force. See RELOCATION.
CLASSIFICATION – Designation of public lands as being valuable or suitable for specific purposes, uses, or resources. See LAND, MINERAL, POWER SITE, and SMALL TRACT.
CLASSIFICATION WITHDRAWAL – A withdrawal of public lands which is made pending examination of the lands to determine their suitability for certain purposes and for classification for those purposes.
CLOSURE – The process of measurement in a closed figure for a check on horizontal or vertical precision. See CLOSURE*.
CLOUD ON TITLE – An outstanding claim or encumbrance which, if valid, would affect or impair the title of the owner of a particular estate. A mortgage judgment or tax levy may in some cases constitute a cloud on title.
COAL DECLARATORY STATEMENT – An affidavit filed by a claimant under now obsolete laws, describing lands known to contain coal deposits. The filing segregated the lands. A Cash Entry patent was issued, giving the surface and the minerals to the patentee.
COAL ENTRY – A cash entry, under laws now repealed, covering public lands which contain valuable coal deposits or covering such coal deposits only.
COAL LANDS – Surveyed public lands chiefly valuable for their deposits of coal.
COAL LICENSE – An authorization to mine coal on the public lands free of charge for local domestic use.
COAST – The zone of land of indefinite width (perhaps 1 to 3 miles) that extends inland from the shore to the first major change in terrain features. See BEACH, BACKSHORE, FORESHORE, SHORE.
COASTAL SALT MARSH – A marsh located along or near the sea coast, the surface of which lies below the elevation of mean high water. See SWAMP, SWAMP AND OVERFLOWED LANDS, MARSH, TIDELANDS.
COASTLINE – Technically, the line that forms the boundary between the coast and the shore and marks the seaward limit of the permanently exposed coast. The U.S.C.&G.S. (now N.O.S.) uses the words "coastline" and "shoreline" as synonymous and defines these as being the mean high water line. In the Submerged Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1301(c): "The term 'coast line' means the line of ordinary low water along that portion of the coast which is in direct contact with the open sea and the line marking the seaward limit of inland waters." When using the term "coastline" the user should specify what line is intended. See BEACH, SHORE, SHORE LINE, FORESHORE, BACKSHORE, MEAN HIGH WATER, TIDELANDS, INLAND WATERS.
CODICIL – A supplement or an addition to a will.
COLLATERAL EVIDENCE – Additional or auxiliary evidence. Accompanying or acting as secondary evidence. Evidence which supports or reinforces evidence already in hand. See EVIDENCE.
COLLATERAL EVIDENCE (CADASTRAL SURVEY) – Such things as acts and testimony of interested landowners, competent surveyors, other qualified local authorities or some acceptable record evidence that may be used along with other evidence in identifying the true original position of a corner.
COLOR OF TITLE – If a claim to a piece of real property is based upon some written instrument, although a defective one, the person is said to have "color of title." A claim which has as its basis that which the law considers prima facie a good title, but which, by reason of some defect not appearing on its face, is not in fact a title. Federal withdrawn land is not subject to the Color-of-Title Act. See COLOR-OF-TITLE ACT, COLOR-OF-TITLE ENTRY, and PRIMA FACIE.
COLOR-OF-TITLE ACT - The Act of December 22, 1928 (43 U.S.C., sec. 1068), as amended. Under the terms of and provisions of this act, a patent may be issued for a parcel of not more than 160 acres of public lands. The land must have been possessed in good faith by a claimant, his ancestors or grantors for a period of more than 20 years. See ADVERSE POSSESSION, COLOR OF TITLE, COLOR-OF-TITLE ENTRY.
COLOR-OF-TITLE ENTRY – A cash entry made by an entryman relying upon erroneous evidence of title. The Color-of-Title Act provides for this type of entry. However, land attaching to Federal withdrawn land by accretion becomes withdrawn and is not public land subject to color-of-title applications even when later separated from the withdrawn land by avulsions. See COLOR OF TITLE, ACCRETION, AVULSION, COLOR OF TITLE ACT, and WITHDRAWAL.
COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE – The official who was the head of the General Land Office. See GENERAL LAND OFFICE.
COMMUNITIZATION AGREEMENT – A contractual arrangement which combines separate land holdings for purposes of drilling for oil and gas.
COMMUNITY WATERSHED – An obsolete term which identified watershed planning areas. An area selected for such study is now simply a "Watershed Area."
COMMUTED HOMESTEAD ENTRY – For certain classes of homestead entries it was possible to substitute payment of the minimum statutory price for part of another form of "payment" which consisted of residence for a certain number of years and/or other requirements. This substitution of one form of payment for another is called commutation.
COMPASS SURVEY – A survey, which was executed using the magnetic compass.
COMPASS RULE – See NON RIPARIAN BROKEN BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT.
COMPLETION SURVEY – Executed to finish a partially subdivided township or section, or to finish parts of boundaries of townships or sections which are unsurveyed. See EXTENSION SURVEY and COMPLETION*.
CONDEMNATION – In real property law, the process by which property of a private owner is taken for public use, without his consent, but upon the award of payment of just compensation. It has the nature of a forced sale and the condemner has the position toward the owner of a buyer toward a seller.
CONFLICT – 1) The overlap of the exterior lines of a claim onto a prior survey or other senior claim. 2) A variance or disagreement between what is written in the field notes and what is represented on the plat. 3) An apparent disagreement or ambiguity between various parts of the field notes. 4) A different representation on one plat compared to hand drafted copies thereof or compared to plats of adjacent surveys. 5) Any factor in the land status which serves as a bar to approval of an application, particularly an application or entry for similar rights on the same land.
CONFLICTING EVIDENCE – A contradiction or disagreement of the actual ground conditions compared to the record, usually regarding topographic calls or characteristics of corner monumentation. See EVIDENCE.
CONFLICTING TESTIMONY – A contradiction or ambiguity of facts, evidence, or statements made previously or made by other witnesses. See TESTIMONY.
CONFLUENCE – Literally, flowing together. The joining of two or more streams of water. Considering two major streams, the precise point of confluence is where the flow direction of water along the thread of the smaller stream reasonably parallels and joins the flow in the larger stream. In field notes the point where the thread of a smaller non-meandered stream crosses the meander line of the larger stream is the confluence.
CONFORMED ENTRY – Used in independent resurveys to indicate that an entry according to the original survey agrees with the subdivisional lines of the resurvey, or that the entryman will accept the subdivisional lines of the resurvey as properly locating his claim.
CONNECTED SHEETS – Sometimes called "Connection Sheets," they are diagrams drawn from the official record on a section by section basis, but with peripheral overlap between diagrams. In this way the continuous relationship between irregular land line conditions, particularly mining claims, is shown. These diagrams are not official documents; they are a working index tool of the Bureau of Land Management.
CONNECTING LINE – 1) A survey line connecting one survey to another. Generally used on the older plats and in mineral surveys. 2) A line calculated from beginning to end of a traverse.
CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES – The 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia; all of the States which have common boundaries and are not separated by foreign territory or the high seas. The United States, exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii. See CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES.
CONTEST – To make defense to an adverse claim in a court of law; to oppose, resist, or dispute the case made by a plaintiff. To strive to win or hold; to controvert, litigate, challenge; to defend, as a suit or other proceeding.
CONTIGUOUS LAND – Generally speaking, two parcels of land having a common boundary line. See CORNER CONTIGUITY.
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS – Either of two assemblies of representatives from American colonies during the Revolutionary period. The first of these was held in 1774 to express grievances against British colonial policy; the second convened in 1775, created the Continental Army, issued the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Articles of Confederation (1778). It operated as the legislative body of the United States for several years.
CONTINENTAL DIVIDE – The ridge in the Rocky Mountain system which divides the waters of the continent.
CONTINENTAL SHELF – The part of a continental mass extending from the shore outward beneath the shallow seas to the continental talus where the bottom slopes down rapidly to the ocean depths. See CONTINENTAL SHELF*.
CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES – Includes the Conterminous United States and the State of Alaska. Hawaii alone of the 50 States is not a part of the continental of North America. See CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES.
CONTOUR – See CONTOUR*.
CONTRACT – A binding legal relationship obligating the seller to furnish personal property or nonpersonal services (including construction) and the buyer to pay for them. Contracts include all types of commitments obligating the Government to an expenditure of funds, and are usually in writing.
CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION – The activities involved in enforcing the terms of the contract, and in carrying out the Government’s responsibilities as stated in the contract.
CONTRACTING OFFICER – The employee delegated contracting authority who signs a contract in behalf of the Government.
CONTRACTING OFFICER’S AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE – The employee designated in writing by the Contracting officer to provide contract administrative services.
CONTRACT SYSTEM – The contracting of the public land surveys. Between 1796 and 1910 the public land surveys were executed by deputy surveyors who had entered into contracts with the Surveyors General for the performance of the field work and preparation of the field notes of the surveys. See DIRECT SYSTEM OF SURVEYS.
CONTROL DOCUMENT – Any legal document which affects the ownership or use of the public lands and resources. See LAND STATUS RECORDS, PATENT.
CONTROL DOCUMENT INDEX – A reference file consisting of microphotographic copies of legal documents mounted in aperture tabulating cards arranged by State, meridian and township. See LAND STATUS RECORDS, CONTROL DOCUMENTS, SERIAL REGISTERS.
CONTROL, GEODETIC – A system of monumented stations having known, precise positions established by geodetic methods. See CONTROL SURVEY CLASSIFICATION*.
CONTROL LINES – The primary control of the public land surveys of the United States consists of base lines, standard parallels (correction lines), principal meridians and guide meridians. Among field surveyors a control line is a survey line to the nearest identified corner in directions necessary for restoration of a corner. See OUTBOUNDARIES.
CONTROLLING BOUNDARIES – See OUTBOUNDARIES.
CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES – The 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia; all of the States which have common boundaries and are not separated by foreign territory or the high seas. The United States, exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii. See CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES.
CONTEST – To make defense to an adverse claim in a court of law; to oppose, resist, or dispute the case made by a plaintiff. To strive to win or hold; to controvert, litigate, challenge; to defend, as a suit or other proceeding.
CONTIGUOUS LAND – Generally speaking, two parcels of land having a common boundary line. See CORNER CONTIGUITY.
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS – Either of two assemblies of representatives from American colonies during the Revolutionary period. The first of these was held in 1774 to express grievances against British colonial policy; the second convened in 1775, created the Continental Army, issued the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Articles of Confederation (1778). It operated as the legislative body of the United States for several years.
CONTINENTAL DIVIDE – The ridge in the Rocky Mountain system which divides the waters of the continent.
CONTINENTAL SHELF – The part of a continental mass extending from the shore outward beneath the shallow seas to the continental talus where the bottom slopes down rapidly to the ocean depths. See CONTINENTAL SHELF*.
CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES – Includes the Conterminous United States and the State of Alaska. Hawaii alone of the 50 States is not a part of the continental of North America. See CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES.
CONFLICT – Disputed; denied; opposed or contested.
CONTEST – To make defense to an adverse claim in a court of law; to oppose, resist, or dispute the case made by a plaintiff. To strive to win or hold; to controvert, litigate, challenge; to defend, as a suit or other proceeding.
CONTIGUOUS LAND – Generally speaking, two parcels of land having a common boundary line. See CORNER CONTIGUITY.
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS – Either of two assemblies of representatives from American colonies during the Revolutionary period. The first of these was held in 1774 to express grievances against British colonial policy; the second convened in 1775, created the Continental Army, issued the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Articles of Confederation (1778). It operated as the legislative body of the United States for several years.
CONTINENTAL DIVIDE – The ridge in the Rocky Mountain system which divides the waters of the continent.
CONTINENTAL SHELF – The part of a continental mass extending from the shore outward beneath the shallow seas to the continental talus where the bottom slopes down rapidly to the ocean depths. See CONTINENTAL SHELF*.
CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES – Includes the Conterminous United States and the State of Alaska. Hawaii alone of the 50 States is not a part of the continental of North America. See CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES.
CONTOUR – See CONTOUR*.
CONTRACT – A binding legal relationship obligating the seller to furnish personal property or nonpersonal services (including construction) and the buyer to pay for them. Contracts include all types of commitments obligating the Government to an expenditure of funds, and are usually in writing.
CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION – The activities involved in enforcing the terms of the contract, and in carrying out the Government’s responsibilities as stated in the contract.
CONTRACTING OFFICER – The employee delegated contracting authority who signs a contract in behalf of the Government.
CONTRACTING OFFICER’S AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE – The employee designated in writing by the Contracting officer to provide contract administrative services.
CONTRACT SYSTEM – The contracting of the public land surveys. Between 1796 and 1910 the public land surveys were executed by deputy surveyors who had entered into contracts with the Surveyors General for the performance of the field work and preparation of the field notes of the surveys. See DIRECT SYSTEM OF SURVEYS.
CONTROL DOCUMENT – Any legal document which affects the ownership or use of the public lands and resources. See LAND STATUS RECORDS, PATENT.
CONTROL DOCUMENT INDEX – A reference file consisting of microphotographic copies of legal documents mounted in aperture tabulating cards arranged by State, meridian and township. See LAND STATUS RECORDS, CONTROL DOCUMENTS, SERIAL REGISTERS.
CONTROL, GEODETIC – A system of monumented stations having known, precise positions established by geodetic methods. See CONTROL SURVEY CLASSIFICATION*.
CONTROL LINES – The primary control of the public land surveys of the United States consists of base lines, standard parallels (correction lines), principal meridians and guide meridians. Among field surveyors a control line is a survey line to the nearest identified corner in directions necessary for restoration of a corner. See OUTBOUNDARIES.
CONTROLLING BOUNDARIES – See OUTBOUNDARIES.
CONTROVERTED – Disputed; denied; opposed or contested.
CONVEY – The act of deeding or transferring title to another.
CONVEYANCE – In real property law, a transfer of legal title to land. An instrument, such as a deed, by which interest in real property is created or by which title to real property is transferred from grantor to grantee.
COORDINATES – A set of numbers used in specifying the location of a point.
COORDINATE SYSTEM – A mathematically defined method for specifying the locations of points. Distances or angles from suitable references locate the points within the system. See STATE COORDINATE SYSTEMS, STATE PLANE COORDINATES, GEODETIC COORDINATES, UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSAL MERCATOR, GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES, PLANE COORDINATES, SPHERICAL COORDINATES.
COOS BAY EXCHANGE – See O&C EXCHANGE.
COOS BAY HOMESTEAD ENTRY – A homestead entry, not exceeding 160 acres, on Coos Bay Wagon Road lands which are agricultural in character.
COOS BAY WAGON ROAD LANDS – Public lands in western Oregon which were granted to the State of Oregon to aid in the construction of the Coos Bay Military Wagon Road, but which were later forfeited and returned to the Federal Government by reconveyance. See OREGON AND CALIFORNIA REVESTED LANDS ADMINISTRATION.
COPPER RIVER MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in the southeastern part of Alaska; it was adopted in 1905.
COPPERWELD – A brand-name for a copper coated steel rod with a brass cap which may be authorized for use in monumentation of corners in certain areas where the use of a regulation iron post is not practical.
CORNER – A point on the surface of the earth, determined by the surveying process, which defines an extremity on a boundary of the public lands. See CLOSING CORNER, CLOSING TOWNSHIP CORNER, DOUBLE CORNER, EXISTENT CORNER, FOUND CORNER, LOST CORNER, MEANDER CORNER, OBLITERATED CORNER, QUARTER-SECTION CORNER, SECTION CORNER, SIXTEENTH-SECTION CORNER, STANDARD CORNER, TOWNSHIP CORNER, WITNESS CORNER. Also see MONUMENT.
CORNER ACCESSORIES – Nearby physical objects to which corners are referenced for their future identification or restoration. Accessories include bearing trees, mounds, pits, ledges, rocks and other natural features to which distances or directions (or both) from the corner or monument are known. Such accessories are actually a part of the monumentation. See BEARING TREE, BEARING OBJECT, MOUNDS AND PITS and LANDMARK.
CORNER CONTIGUITY – When parcels of land or mining claims have angle points (corners) in common – though they do not share a common boundary line – they are said to have "corner contiguity."
CORNER DESCRIPTION – The specific data (both old and new) about a corner monument and its accessories which include marks, positions, and physical characteristics. Corner monument markings – letters, numerals, lines, grooves or notches used to mark corner monuments. The markings usually indicate the location of the corner.
CORNER MOVE – The computed directions and distances FROM a temporary point TO the true point for a corner as computed from the retracement data. See RANDOM LINE.
CORNER OF MAXIMUM CONTROL – A section corner of maximum control fixes the position of, or controls, the position of four sections; likewise, a township corner of maximum control, controls four townships. A quarter-section corner of maximum control, controls the subdivision of two sections. See CORNER OF MINIMUM CONTROL.
CORNER OF MINIMUM CONTROL – A section corner of minimum control fixes the position of, or controls less than four sections; likewise, a township corner of minimum control, controls less than four townships. A quarter-section corner of minimum control fixes the subdivisions of one section only.
CORPOREAL PROPERTY – Property which may be seen and touched, as distinguished from incorporeal property which exists only in contemplation. A house is corporeal, but annual rent which may be payable for its occupation by another is incorporeal. See INCORPOREAL.
CORRECTION LINE – See STANDARD PARALLEL.
CORRECTIVE RESURVEY – A survey made to correct an erroneous omission of original corner evidence discovered after a survey has been approved.
CORRESPONDING CORNERS – Opposite, like corners of a subdivisional unit which control the subdivision of that unit.
CORROBORATING EVIDENCE – Evidence supplementary to that already given and tending to strengthen or confirm it. Additional evidence of a different character to the same point. See COLLATERAL EVIDENCE and COLLATERAL EVIDENCE (CADASTRAL SURVEY).
COUNTRY ROCK – The rock beyond the walls of a lode. The strata between or across which the lode is found.
COURSE – In surveying; the direction of a line with reference to a meridian; also, the direction of flow of the water in a stream. See BEARING.
COURTHOUSE-SITE RESERVE – A reservation of public lands in Alaska in territorial days for use as a Territorial Courthouse site.
COURTS OF CHANCERY – See COURTS OF EQUITY.
COURTS OF EQUITY – Courts which administer justice according to the system of equity, and according to the rules, principles and procedures of chancery; as distinguished from a court having the jurisdiction, rules, principles and practice of the common law. The terms "chancery" and "equity" and "court of chancery" and "court of equity" are used as synonymous in the United States, probably because the jurisdiction exercised by courts of equity is similar to that of the English chancery courts. In some States, courts called chancery courts possess general equity powers.
CROSSCUT – Something that cuts across or through. Specifically: a mine working driven horizontally and at right angles to an adit, drift or level.
CROSSING CLOSING CORNER – A term used to describe a corner set where a township or section line intersects (crosses) the line of a surveyed mineral claim, forest claim or the like. Crossing closing corner monuments are usually not set at these intersections unless such corners are required to provide an interval of monumentation of at least one-half mile. In instances where they may be required for operational or litigation purposes they will be provided for in the Special Instructions.
CURATIVE PATENT – See PATENT, CURATIVE.
CURTESY – The right which a husband has in his wife’s estate at her death. The state to which by common law a man is entitled, on the death of his wife, in the lands or tenements of which she is seised in possession in fee-simple or in tail during her coverture, provided they have had lawful issue born alive which might be capable of inheriting the estate. It is a freehold estate for the term of his natural life. See DOWER.
CUT – In mining, a surface opening in the ground intersecting a vein. See CUT*.

D

D (Land Status Records) – Director.
DC – District of Columbia.
DC (Land Status Records) – Donation claim. See DONATION LAND CLAIM.
D/C (Land Status Records) – Ditches and/or Canal.
DDB – Directives Digest Bulletin.
DE – Delaware. See Delaware Land Surveyors.
DED (Land Status Records) – Dedication.
DEF (Land Status Records) – Deficiency.
DEP – Department (of a traverse).
DEPT OF AGRI (Land Status Records) – Department of Agriculture.
DEPT OF INT (Land Status Records) – Department of the Interior.
DES (Land Status Records) – Designated or Designation.
DET (Land Status Records) – Determination.
DI-10 – A brand name of electronic measurement equipment.
DLC – Donation Land Claim.
DLE (Land Status Records) – Desert Land Entry.
DM (Land Status Records) – District Manager.
DMD – Double meridian distance.
DOC (Land Status Records) – Document.
DPD – Double parallel distance.
DSC – Denver Service Center.
DANGER ZONE – In regard to the rectangular limits of township boundaries, the "danger zone" is placed at theoretical bearings exceeding 14 minutes of arc from cardinal. In respect to lengths of lines, the "danger zone" occurs when adjustments exceed 33 links per mile, as defined in the Manual of Surveying Instructions.
DATUM – In ordinary survey usage, a defined reference for survey measurements. The plural form is datums. See GEODETIC DATUM, TIDAL DATUM, NORTH AMERICAN DATUM OF 1927*, MEAN SEA LEVEL, LEVEL DATUM*.
DECISION – A decision is the reduction to writing of the adjudicative process. A decision orders the disposition of a case in a certain way, and contains a statement of the facts, laws and reasoning which require that disposition.
DECLINATION – An angle of difference. See ASTRONOMIC DECLINATION, MAGNETIC DECLINATION, VARIATION.
DECLINATION, ASTRONOMIC – The angular distance of a celestial body north or south of the celestial equator. Astronomic declination on the celestial sphere corresponds with latitude on the earth. It is noted as positive (+) when north and negative (-) when south of the celestial equator.
DEED – A document which transfers title to real property. In those instances where a complicated metes and bounds description is the only description available, a deed may be used to transfer fee simple interest in public lands. A patent would be issued under normal conditions where a cadastral survey plat shows a description by legal subdivisions. See PATENT, WARRANTY, BARGAIN AND SALE, QUITCLAIM DEED, and DESCRIPTION BY LEGAL SUBDIVISIONS.
DEFENDANT – The person defending or denying; the party against whom relief or recovery is sought in an action or suit. See PLAINTIFF.
DEFICIENCY – The amount by which a boundary is less than the nominal amount which is usually 80 chains.
DEFLECTION ANGLE – The angular difference from a straight line at an angle point in a traverse.
DE MINIMIS NON CURAT LEX – The law does not care for, or take notice of, very small or trifling matters; the law does not concern itself about trifles. A surveyor's return of 29 inches length for a location monument should be considered a trifling difference. See also RULE OF APPROXIMATION.
DEBUR – To take exception. To make an objection. To present a demurrer. See DEMURRER.
DEMEURRER – An answer to a legal action that assumes the truth of the matter alleged by the opposite party. It then sets up the defense that the complaint is insufficient in law to sustain his claim or that there is some other defect constituting a legal reason why the opposing party should not be allowed to proceed further. Also, one who demurs.
DEPARTURE – A term used in metes and bounds descriptions to signify a parting or departing from a meridian, a line, or a boundary.
DEPENDENT RESURVEY – A retracement and reestablishment of the lines of the original survey in their true original positions according to the best available evidence of the positions of the original corners. It includes the restoration of lost corners in accordance with procedures described in the Manual of Surveying Instructions. See RESURVEY, INDEPENDENT RESURVEY, RETRACEMENT, and RESTORATION.
DISTRICT (BLM) – The primary administrative division of a State Director’s geographic area of responsibility. A geographic area composed of at least two (typically three or four) resource areas under the supervision of a District Manager. See DISTRICT MANAGER AND RESOURCE AREA.
DISTRICT MANAGER (BLM) – The principal Bureau official at the district level. He is directly accountable to the State Director. See STATE DIRECTOR.
DISTRICT OFFICES (BLM) – The States and cities in which BLM district offices are currently (1973) located are as follows:
- Alaska – Anchorage and Fairbanks.
- Arizona – Phoenix and Safford.
- California – Bakersfield, Folsom, Redding, Riverside, Susanville and Ukiah.
- Colorado – Canon City, Craig, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction and Montrose.
- Idaho – Boise, Burley, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls, Salmon and Shoshone.
- Montana – Billings, Dillon, Lewiston, Malta, Miles City and Missoula.
- Nevada – Battle Mountain, Carson City, Elko, Ely, Las Vegas and Winnemucca.
- New Mexico – Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Roswell and Socorro.
- Oregon – Baker, Burns, Coos Bay, Eugene, Lakeview, Medford, Prineville, Roseburg, Salem and Vale.
- Utah – Cedar City, Fillmore, Kanab, Monticello, Price, Richfield, St. George, Salt Lake City and Vernal.
- Washington – Spokane (Administered through Oregon State Office).
- Wyoming – Casper, Lander, Pinedale, Rawlins, Rock Springs and Worland.
See SPECIAL OFFICES (BLM), STATE OFFICES (BLM), LAND OFFICES (BLM), DISTRICT (BLM), DISTRICT MANAGER (BLM).
DITCHES AND/OR CANALS – Used to indicate a reservation to the United States of a right, or an easement for the construction and maintenance of ditches or canals, as stated in a particular patent.
DIURNAL – Daily. Usually used in reference to a natural phenomenon which occurs only once in a given day.
DIVEST – To deprive; take away or withdraw. Usually spoken of in reference to depriving or dispossessing one of property, title, or authority.
DIVIDE – A ridge or area of elevated land between two basins or valleys. See CONTINENTAL DIVIDE, HYDROGRAPHIC DIVIDE, and RIDGE TOP.
DIVISION LINE BETWEEN A BOG AND AN UPLAND AREA – The line where the area occupied by a shallow, virtually undrained bog area meets mineral soil, which lies above ordinary high water. If upland vegetation is present, the inference will be that it has been an upland site for the period equal to the age of the vegetation. See BOG and UPLANDS.
DIVISION LINE BETWEEN A MEANDERABLE BODY OF WATER AND A SWAMP – The line where the area occupied by the water for the greater part of each average year meets the area where the types of vegetation occur which may normally be found only within the swamp zone. For example, while certain varieties of trees are found only in upland situation, other varieties and other types of vegetation may be found only within the zone of the swamp. All such vegetation normally ends at the margin of permanent water. See SWAMP.
DIVISION LINE BETWEEN A SWAMP AND AN UPLAND AREA – The line where an area lying above the ordinary high water elevation meets an area of low, wet land of such character that without the construction of artificial reclamation methods it would be wet and unfit for agriculture. See SWAMP, MARSH, BOG, SALT MARSH, SWAMP AND OVERFLOWED LANDS, and UPLANDS.
DOCUMENT – 1) An instrument on which is recorded, by means of letters, figures, marks or symbols, information which may be relied upon as the basis, proof or support of something. A deed, agreement, title paper, letter, or other written instrument used to prove a fact. 2) To furnish written evidence. To provide with factual or substantial support for statements made or a hypothesis proposed; especially, to equip with exact references to authoritative supporting information.
DOMESDAY-BOOK (Sometimes Doomsday-Book) – A record of a survey of English lands made by order of William the Conqueror. It was begun in 1081 and finished in 1086. It is a description of the land, with the names of the owners, and the nature and extent of their holdings. It was, in effect, a cadastral survey.
DONATION – The voluntary conveyance of private property to public ownership and/or use, without compensation to the owner.
DONATION ACT OF SEPTEMBER 27, 1850 – Provided for grants of 320 acres to all White American citizens or those who intended to become citizens and who had resided in Oregon Territory and cultivated the land 4 years; wives to have an additional 320 acres. All white male citizens or intended citizens who emigrated there between Dec. 1, 1850 & Dec. 1, 1853, and who met the other requirements, were to have 160 acres or 320 acres, depending on their marital status. See DONATION LAND CLAIM.
DONATION LAND CLAIM – The land, 320 or 640 acres, that was allocated to an Oregon settler under the Donation Act of September 27, 1850. See DONATION ACT OF SEPTEMBER 27, 1850, ACT OF AUGUST 4, 1842, ACT OF JULY 22, 1854, and DONATION LANDS.
DONATION LANDS – Lands granted from the public domain to an individual or, as in the case of lands donated or granted to railroads as an incentive for construction, to corporations. See also DONATION.
DOUBLE CENTERING*.
DOUBLE CORNER – Normally the two sets of corners along a standard parallel; the standard township, section, and quarter-section corners placed at regular intervals of measurement; additionally, the closing corners established on the line at the points of intersection of the guide meridians, range and section lines of the surveys brought in from the south. In other cases, not fully in conformity with the rectangular plan, two corners, each common to two townships only, instead of one corner of the four townships. Similarly, two corners, each common to two sections; and two quarter-section corners, each referring to one section only. The term is sometimes used incorrectly to denote two lines established on the ground although the field-note record indicates only one line, thus creating a hiatus or overlap.
DOUBLE MERIDIAN DISTANCE – 1) The sum of the distances from the end points of a line to an arbitrary reference north-south line used for area computations. Sometimes considered as twice the distance from the midpoint of a line, which is mathematically equivalent. 2) The method of computing areas using DMDs or DPDs.
DOUBLE PARALLEL DISTANCE – The sum of the distances from the end points of a line to an arbitrary east-west line used for checking area computations by the DMD method.
DOUBLE PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT (Also called “4-Way” proportion) – A method of restoring a lost corner of four townships or four interior sections. It gives concordant relation between all parts of the times. The new values given to the several parts, as determined by remeasurement shall bear the same relation to the record lengths as the new measurement of the whole line bears to that record. In cases of distorted lines subject to double proportion, measurements are comparable only when reduced to their equivalent latitudes and departures. See SINGLE PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT and PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT.
DOWER – The portion of, or interest in, the real estate of a deceased husband which the law gives to his widow for life. The extent varies with statutory provisions. See CURTESY.
DRAINAGE ENTRY – An entry, not exceeding 160 acres, on public lands. Under Federal statutory authority, a non-Federal tax, or drainage charge, is levied against such lands to defray the costs of draining swamp and overflowed lands. Also Drainage Homestead Entry.
DRIFT – In mining, an underground passage driven horizontally along the course of a mineralized vein or approximately so. See SHAFT, TUNNEL, ADIT, CROSSCUT, DRIFT*.
DUE – Directly or exactly; in a cardinal direction with the usual precision of that survey.

E

E (Land Status Records) – East.
EC STATION – 1) Extended control station*. 2) Electronic control station.
EDM – Electronic Distance Measurement.
EDP – Electronic Data Processing.
EFF (Land Status Records) – Effective.
E.G. – An abbreviation of "exampli gratia," which means: For the sake of an example.
EHE (Land Status Records) – Enlarged homestead entry.
ELIM (Land Status Records) – Elimination.
ENLGMT (Land Status Records) – Enlargement.
EO (Land Status Records ) – Executive Order.
ES (Land Status Records) – Exchange survey.
ESLO – Eastern States Land Office. The Eastern States Land Office is in Silver Springs, Maryland. (Now designated Eastern States Office, ESO).
ESMT (Land Status Records) – Easement.
ET AL – An abbreviation of et alii, "and others," or et alius, "and another."
ETC. – The common abbreviation for "et cetera." And others; and other things; and others of like character; and others of like kind; and the rest; and so on; and so forth.
ET CON. – An abbreviation meaning "and husband."
ET SEQ. – An abbreviation for et sequentes or et sequentia, "and the following." A reference to "p. 3 et seq." means "page number 3 and the following pages." It is also abbreviated "et sqq.," in some works, when the reference is to more than one following page.
ET UX. – An abbreviation for et uxor, "and his wife."
EXCL (Land Status Records) – Excluding, excluded.
EXP (Land Status Records) – Expire(d).
EX REL – (See word listing below).
EXT (Land Status Records) – Extended, extension, extend.
EASEMENT – An interest or right in land owned by another that entitles its holder to a specific limited use; such as laying a sewer, crossing over property or putting up power lines.
EGRESS – A right to go upon the land of another. Often used interchangeably with the word "access." See ACCESS, INGRESS, ENGRESS and REGRESS.
ELDER SURVEY – See SURVEY, ELDER.
ELECTRONIC CONTROL SURVEY – A survey, using theodolites and electronic equipment, whereby a control network is established and monumented to facilitate the placement of the rectangular survey grid. See ELECTRONIC DISTANCE MEASUREMENT*.
ELLICOTT’S LINE – The meridian northward from the point of beginning of the first United States cadastral survey – a point established on August 20, 1785, on the north bank of the Ohio River – was named for Andrew Ellicott, and is known as Ellicott’s Line. It is also the Ohio-Pennsylvania boundary line. Florida as determined by the treaty dated Oct. 27, 1795. This boundary along the 31 parallel of north latitude is called Ellicott’s Line of Demarcation.
ELONGATED SECTION – A section which exceeds 85 chains in either length or width as originally surveyed and platted.
EMINENT DOMAIN – The right of governmental agencies to take private property for public use.
ENABLING ACT – In reference to admission of new States into the Union, it is an act passed by Congress empowering the people of a territory to frame a constitution and lay down certain requirements that must be met prerequisite to statehood.
ENCROACHMENT – An unlawful and adverse intrusion within the boundary of a property, such as cultivation of the soil, enclosure by fence, the construction of an improvement, extension of a tunnel, underground operation or comparable act.
ENCUMBRANCE – Any right to or interest in land which makes it subject to a charge or liability. Encumbrances include mortgages, judgment liens, attachments, leases, deed restrictions, unpaid taxes, inchoate rights of dower and so forth. See INCHOATE.
END LINE – In mining law, the end lines of a claim, as platted or laid down on the ground, are those which mark its boundaries on the shorter dimension, where it crosses the vein. If the claim as a whole crosses the vein, instead of following its course, the end lines are still the boundaries of the shorter dimension, even though they are along the course of the vein. See SIDE LINE.
ENLARGED HOMESTEAD ENTRY – A homestead entry, not exceeding 320 acres, initiated under the act of Feb. 19, 1909 (35 Stat. 639), or the act of June 17, 1910 (36 stat. 531, 43 U.S.C. sec. 218), which provide for the homesteading of nonirrigable agricultural lands in the West.
ENTRY – An application to acquire title to public lands. See ORIGINAL ENTRY, FINAL ENTRY, CASH ENTRY, and COMMUTED HOMESTEAD ENTRY.
ENTRY ALLOWED – An application to acquire title to public lands which has been approved, either as an original entry or a final entry. See ORIGINAL ENTRY and FINAL ENTRY.
ENTRYMAN – One who makes an entry of land under the public land laws of the United States.
ENTRY UNPERFECTED – An original entry which has been allowed, but under which the entryman has not met all the requirements of the law and/or regulations to permit him to make final entry for patent to the land. See FINAL ENTRY.
EPHEMERIS – Any tabular statement of the assigned places of a celestial body for regular intervals. The current Ephemeris of the Sun, Polaris and Other Selected Stars with Companion Data and Tables, which has been published annually in advance since 1910 as a supplement to the various Manuals of Surveying Instructions, is available through the U.S. Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.
EQUATION – The relationship between two stationing values for the same point in route surveying such as 123 + 45.6 back = 124 + 00 ahead.
EQUITABLE – 1) Just; conformable to the principles of right and justice. Just, fair and right in consideration of the facts and circumstances of an individual case. 2) Existing, available or sustainable only in equity or by the rules and principles of equity. See EQUITY.
EQUITY – A system of law originating in the English chancery and comprising a settled and formal body of legal and procedural rules and doctrines that supplement, aid or override common and statute law. Rules of equity are designed to protect rights and enforce duties as created and defined by law. In another legal meaning, "equity" is the remaining interest belonging to one who has pledged or mortgaged his property, or the surplus of value which may remain after the property has been sold to satisfy liens. The amount of value of a property above the total liens or charges. See COURTS OF EQUITY.
EROSION – In riparian law, the washing away of land by the sea or a river’s flow. Usually considered as an imperceptible action, the rate of erosion may be quite rapid in total effect and may be distinguished from avulsion by the absence of identifiable upland between former and new channels. See RIPARIAN LAW.
ERRONEOUS LOCATION – Where it is evident that lands have been occupied in good faith but boundaries as occupied are clearly in disagreement with the demonstrated position of the legal subdivision called for in the description, it is regarded as a case of "erroneous location." See AMENDED ENTRY.
ERRONEOUSLY OMITTED AREAS – See OMITTED LANDS.
ERRONEOUS MEANDERS – Error or mistake in position rather than in procedure. See MEANDERS.
ESCHEAT – In English feudal law, the reversion of lands to the lord of the fee in consequence of a want of an individual competent to inherit. In modern law, the State is deemed to occupy the place and hold the rights of the feudal lord. Real property may be claimed by the State where there is no will and/or no competent inheritors can be found. Also termed "escheated property" or "escheatage." See INTESTATE.
ESCROW – The state or condition of a deed which is conditionally held by a third person, or the possession and retention of a deed by a third person pending performance of a condition. While in the possession of the third person, and subject to condition, it is called an "escrow."
ESTATE – The interest which anyone has in lands or in any other property. "Estate: is used in conveyances in connection with the words "right," "title" and "interest." It is, in a great degree, synonymous with all of them. See CONVEYANCE, REAL ESTATE, PROPERTY, REAL PROPERTY and PERSONAL PROPERTY.
ESTOPPEL – The stopping of a person from asserting a claim by reason of his own previous representations which refute his new claim. The new claim may in fact be true, however, he may be prevented from exerting that claim by "estoppel." See RES JUDICATA.
EVIDENCE – Testimony, physical objects, marks, traces of former objects or relationship between any of these which may furnish proof or part of a proof of a corner location or line location. See COLLATERAL EVIDENCE.
EVIDENCING OF TITLE – The submission of proof of title to a tract of land as shown by an abstract of the recorded patent and deeds of transfer, inheritance, court decree, or other means of establishing the title.
EXCEPTION – In deeds or conveyances, a clause used by the grantor to retain some part of the former estate by excluding it from the deed or grant. "Except" means "not including."
EXCHANGE – A transaction whereby the Federal Government receives land in exchange for other land and/or timber. See PRIVATE EXCHANGE, STATE EXCHANGE and TAYLOR ACT EXCHANGE.
EXCHANGE SURVEY – A Cadastral Survey of lands to be exchanged.
EXISTENT CORNER – A corner whose position can be identified by verifying the evidence of the monument, or its accessories, by reference to the description that is contained in the field notes, or where the point can be located by an acceptable supplemental survey record, some physical evidence or testimony.
EX OFFICIO – From office; powers exercised by an official not specifically conferred on him but necessarily implied in his office.
EXPERT WITNESS – A witness is a person who testifies as to what he has observed by sight, sound etc. An "expert witness" may testify additionally as to matters of opinion on subjects within fields for which he is qualified. Thus, a cadastral surveyor may interpret the meanings of the symbols, letters and numbers on a plat but he may say nothing to add to or subtract from the official record, which speaks for itself by definition. See EVIDENCE, TESTIMONY, QUALIFIED (as a witness).
EX REL – Ex Relatione; Upon relation or information. Legal proceedings which are instituted by the Attorney General (or other proper person) in the name and behalf of the State, but on the information and at the instigation of an individual who has a private interest in the matter, are said to be taken "on the relation" (ex relatione) of such person, who is called the "relator." Such cause is usually entitled thus: "State ex rel. Doe v. Roe."
EXTENSION SURVEY – Executed to add to an existing survey. An "extension survey" does not, however, complete a survey of boundaries of townships or sections or the subdivision of a township or a section, it only adds to an existing partial survey. See COMPLETION SURVEY.
EXTINGUISHMENT – To render legally nonexistent; to destroy or render void; to nullify; to void, as by payment, treaty, setoff, or limitation of actions, merger of an interest in a great one, etc. Extinguishment is distinguished from the mere transfer, passing, or suspension of a right or obligation.
EXTRALATERAL RIGHTS – In mining, the right to mine ore downward along a lode or vein beyond the side lines of a mining location (claim). The right is limited to claims which contain the apex of the vein at or very near the surface, which are oriented with the lode line substantially along the vein and which have the end lines substantially parallel. The right does not extend beyond planes passing vertically through the end lines. Extralateral rights of claims filed before May 10, 1872, were determined according to the previous law of 1866 and by miner’s local rules and they were not dependent upon parallel end lines. Various States have modified the Federal requirements. See INTRALIMITAL RIGHTS.

F

FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ORIGINAL SURVEYOR – Retracement of survey lines using field and survey record evidence to determine the direction and distances measured by the surveyor who created the boundary.
FORESHORE – 1) According to riparian law, the strip of land between the high and low water marks that is alternately covered and uncovered by the flow of the tide. 2) The part of the shore, lying between the crest of the seaward berm and the ordinary low water mark, that is ordinarily traversed by the uprush and backrush of the waves as the tides rise and fall.
FORESIGHT – A sight on a new survey point made in connection with its determination. Also, a distant object intersected by a straight survey line used for checking alignment.
FOREWORD AZIMUTH – See GEODETIC AZIMUTH.
FOUND CORNER – An existent corner of the public land surveys which has been recovered by field investigation.
FOURTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – The part of this principal meridian which was adopted in 1815 governs surveys in part of Illinois. It was extended and the portion which was adopted in 1831 governs surveys in Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.
FRACTIONAL SECTION – A section which, in its original form, contained one or more subdivisions of less than forty (40) acres due to irregular exterior boundaries, or due to the encroachment of a meandered body of water or other land which could not properly be surveyed or disposed of as an aliquot part of that section.
FRACTIONAL TOWNSHIP – A township containing less than 36 normal sections, usually because of invasion by a segregated body of water, or by other land which cannot properly be surveyed as part of that township or by closing the public-land surveys on State boundaries or other limiting lines. Half ranges and half townships are fractional townships by definition.
FRAGMENTARY SURVEYS – Surveys required to identify parts of townships and sections not completed in original surveys. This may include partially surveyed sections, omitted public land islands, and other lands of substantial value and extent that were not included in the original surveys.
FREE AND CLEAR – The title to property is said to be "free and clear" when it is not encumbered by any lien.
FRONTING – Usually signifies abutting, adjoining, or bordering on, depending on the context. Land abutting on a highway, river, seashore, or the like. The land extending along a road, street, river, canal, or ocean.
F. SUPP . – Federal Supplement.
FUP (Land Status Records) – Free use permit.
F&WS (Land Status Records) – Fish and Wildlife Service.
FX (Land Status Records) – Forest Exchange.
FAIRBANKS MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in east-central Alaska; it was adopted in 1910.
FALLING – The distance by which a random line falls to the right or left of a corner on which the true line is to close.
FEDERAL LAND – All classes of land owned by the Federal Government.
FEDERAL POWER PROJECT RESERVATION – A reservation of public lands for use in connection with a power development project under the jurisdiction of the Federal Power Commission.
FEDERAL PROCUREMENT REGULATIONS – The regulations issued by the General Services Administration implementing the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act.
FEDERAL PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ACT OF 1949 – This law, as amended, sets forth the basic contracting procedures and principles which all civilian agencies must follow.
FEE – The true meaning of the word "fee" is the same as that of "feud" or "fief," and in its original sense it is distinguished from "allodium." In modern English tenures, "fee" means an estate of inheritance clear of any condition, limitation, or restriction to particular heirs, but descendable to the heirs in general.
FEE SIMPLE – The estate which a man has where lands are owned by him and his heirs absolutely, with unconditional power of disposition during his life, and descending to his heirs and legal representatives upon his death intestate.
FEE TAIL – An estate limited to one class of heirs.
FIELD EXAMINATION – An on-the-ground investigation of certain public lands in regard to valuation, land use, application for entry, mineralization, etc.
FIELD EXAMINATION (Prior to 1910) – A method of checking public land survey field work under the contract system.
FIELD EXAMINER (Prior to 1910) – A surveyor who was employed by the Government to inspect the accuracy and authenticity of contract surveyors’ work.
FIELD NOTES – The official written record of the survey, certified by the field surveyor and approved by proper authority.
FIELD RETURNS – In cadastral surveying usage, the field notes, reports and plats submitted for acceptance or approval.
FIELD TABLETS – Notebooks in which the initial information is recorded in the field, and from which the Field Notes are transcribed.
FIFTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota. It was adopted in 1815.
FINAL CERTIFICATE – A document which evidences that an entryman is entitled to a patent provided that no irregularities are found in connection with his entry.
FINAL ENTRY – Where an application to acquire title to public lands has been filed in the proper manner and all the requirements of law and the governing regulations have already been complied with, it is a final entry.
FINAL RETURNS – In cadastral surveying usage, the field returns are the field notes, reports and plats submitted for acceptance or approval.
FIRST FORM RECLAMATION WITHDRAWAL – A reclamation withdrawal which embraces public lands that are or may be needed in connection with the construction and maintenance of a reclamation project.
FIRST PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – Sometimes called "Ludlow’s Meridian." The line surveyed north from the mouth of the Great Miami River; it is also the line between Ohio and Indiana. It was adopted in 1819 and governs surveys in parts of both Ohio and Indiana.
FIVE ACRE TRACT ACT – See SMALL TRACT ACT.
FIVE PERCENT RULE – New area amounts are not usually shown on plats of dependent resurveys.
FIXED BOUNDARY – An unchangeable boundary created by operation of law.
FLAGMAN – A member of a survey party who gives sights to or takes line from the instrument man and flags distant points along the survey line.
FLORIDA PURCHASE – The second addition of territory originally claimed by a European power to the territory of the United States.
FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ORIGINAL SURVEYOR – Retracement of survey lines using field and survey record evidence to determine the direction and distances measured by the surveyor who created the boundary.
FORESHORE – 1) According to riparian law, the strip of land between the high and low water marks that is alternately covered and uncovered by the flow of the tide. 2) The part of the shore, lying between the crest of the seaward berm and the ordinary low water mark, that is ordinarily traversed by the uprush and backrush of the waves as the tides rise and fall.
FORESIGHT – A sight on a new survey point made in connection with its determination. Also, a distant object intersected by a straight survey line used for checking alignment.
FOREWORD AZIMUTH – See GEODETIC AZIMUTH.
FOUND CORNER – An existent corner of the public land surveys which has been recovered by field investigation.
FOURTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – The part of this principal meridian which was adopted in 1815 governs surveys in part of Illinois. It was extended and the portion which was adopted in 1831 governs surveys in Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.
FRACTIONAL SECTION – A section which, in its original form, contained one or more subdivisions of less than forty (40) acres due to irregular exterior boundaries, or due to the encroachment of a meandered body of water or other land which could not properly be surveyed or disposed of as an aliquot part of that section.
FRACTIONAL TOWNSHIP – A township containing less than 36 normal sections, usually because of invasion by a segregated body of water, or by other land which cannot properly be surveyed as part of that township or by closing the public-land surveys on State boundaries or other limiting lines. Half ranges and half townships are fractional townships by definition.
FRAGMENTARY SURVEYS – Surveys required to identify parts of townships and sections not completed in original surveys. This may include partially surveyed sections, omitted public land islands, and other lands of substantial value and extent that were not included in the original surveys.
FREE AND CLEAR – The title to property is said to be "free and clear" when it is not encumbered by any lien.
FRONTING – Usually signifies abutting, adjoining, or bordering on, depending on the context. Land abutting on a highway, river, seashore, or the like. The land extending along a road, street, river, canal, or ocean.

G

GA – Georgia. See Georgia Land Surveyors
GD (Land Status Records) – Gold.
GEO (Land Status Records) – Geothermal.
GEOL STR (Land Status Records) – Geologic structure.
GLO (Land Status Records) – General Land Office.
GR DIST (Land Status Records) – Grazing District.
GR LIC (Land Status Records) – Grazing license.
GR LSE (Land Status Records) – Grazing lease.
GR PER (Land Status Records) – Grazing permit.
GSR MER (Land Status Records) – Gila and Salt River Meridian.
GADSDEN PURCHASE – A purchase from Mexico in 1853 to settle a question as to the limits of the Mexican Cession of 1848.
GADSDEN TREATY – The December 30, 1853, treaty with Mexico, under the terms of which the United States acquired territory now in the States of Arizona and New Mexico.
GENERAL LAND OFFICE – The agency which was formerly responsible for the execution of the public-land laws relating to cadastral surveys, land disposals, and to various other activities with respect to the administration and management of the public lands.
GEODETIC AZIMUTH – The horizontal angle at station A measured from a north south plane (perpendicular to the reference ellipsoid) clockwise to an ellipsoidal normal section passing through station B.
GEODETIC CONTROL – A system of monumented stations having known, precise positions established by geodetic methods.
GEODETIC COORDINATES – Quantities which define a horizontal position on an ellipsoid of reference with respect to a geodetic datum.
GEODETIC DATUM – A reference for geodetic survey measurements consisting of fixed latitude, longitude and azimuth values associated with a defined station as well as two constants for an ellipsoid of reference.
GEODETIC POSITION – A position of a point on the surface of the earth expressed in terms of geodetic latitude and geodetic longitude.
GEODETIC SURVEY – A precise survey of considerable extent which takes into account the shape of the earth.
GEOGRAPHER OF THE UNITED STATES – The only man to hold this title was Thomas Hutchins. He was appointed to the position under the terms of the Ordinance of May 20, 1785.
GEOGRAPHER’S LINE, THE – The first line surveyed under the rectangular system.
GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES (U.S.C. & G.S. Sp. PUB. 242) – An inclusive term, used to designate both geodetic coordinates and astronomic coordinates.
GEOGRAPHIC MIDDLE OF A RIVER – See MEDIUM FILUM ACQUAE.
GEOGRAPHIC POSITION – The coordinates of a point on the surface of the earth expressed in terms of latitude and longitude, either geodetic or astronomic.
GEOID – The figure of the earth considered as a mean sea-level surface extended continuously through the continents.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS (GLO) – The first Geological Surveys of the public lands were initiated in 1844 by the General Land Office, in Michigan.
GILA AND SALT RIVER MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in nearly all of Arizona; it was adopted in 1865.
GORE – A hiatus. See HIATUS and GORE*.
GOVERNING BOUNDARIES – Usually the south and east boundaries of a township, but may be termed the satisfactorily surveyed lines on which subdivisions are to be based.
GOVERNING SECTION LINE – A township subdivision line ran as the controlling boundary to rectify a defective township exterior.
GOVERNMENT CONTEST – See CONTEST.
GOVERNMENT LOT – See LOT.
GRADIENT – Rate of rise or fall, as "5% gradient," meaning a 5-foot vertical rise in a 100-foot horizontal distance.
GRADIENT BOUNDARY – A boundary determined by the position of flowing water along a bank.
GRADUAL AND IMPERCEPTIBLE – Describes changes in riparian lands that bring them within the scope of the doctrine of accretion and erosion.
GRANT – Lands, title to which has been confirmed or conferred to the United States for a particular reason or purpose.
GRANT BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT – A mathematical distribution of the closing error which consists of a uniform rotation and scale change of the record courses to conform to the retracement value between the controlling corners.
GRANTEE – A person, firm or corporation to whom land, easements or other habiliments thereof are conveyed or granted.
GRANT IN PLACE – A grant in connection with which the Congress specifically states, or implies, the legal description of the public lands which are granted.
GRANT IN PRAESENTI – See IN PRAESENTI.
GRANTOR – A person, firm or corporation granting or conveying land, easements or other habiliments thereof.
GRANT, QUANTITY – See QUANTITY GRANT.
GRAZING SERVICE – The agency formerly responsible for the administration of grazing on public lands which had been designated as grazing district lands.
GREAT CIRCLE – See GREAT CIRCLE*.
GREENWICH MERIDIAN – The Prime Meridian. The meridian which passes through the original site of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England was adopted in 1884 by a conference of nations as the initial or zero of longitudes.
GRID AZIMUTH – The angle in the plane of projection between a straight line and the central meridian (y-axis) of a plane-rectangular coordinate system.
GRID BEARING – The smaller angle in the plane of projection between a line and a north-south grid line.
GRID LENGTH – The distance between two points as obtained by inverse computation from the plane-rectangular coordinates of the points.
GROIN – A shore protective structure, narrow in width, usually built perpendicular to the shore for purposes of trapping littoral drift, or to protect the shore from erosion.
GROOVES – Elongated depressions scored into the face of a stone monument where the faces of the stone are turned to the cardinal.
GROUP NUMBER – A filing and record-keeping system whereby a particular cadastral survey project is identified, i.e., Group 123, Wyoming.
GUARANTEE OF TITLE – A certification which insures that the title exists in fact as described.
GUIDE LINE – An obsolete term for random line.
GUIDE MERIDIAN – An auxiliary governing line projected north along an astronomical meridian.

H

HB – Handbook. If in a citation, it means "House Bill."
HDQ S – Headquarters Site.
HDS – Homestead declaratory statement.
HE – Homestead entry.
HES – Homestead entry survey.
HI – Hawaii.
HI (Land Status Records) – Historical Index.
HUM MER – Humboldt Meridian.
HUNTS MER – Huntsville Meridian.
HWY – Highway.
HACK – A horizontal notch cut well into a tree at about breast height.
HALF – A fractional part of a regular section subdivision determined according to equally divided linear measurements without consideration of the areas of the halves.
HALF-MILE POSTS – In early survey practice, in parts of Alabama and Florida, so-called "half-mile posts" were established.
HALF RANGE NUMBERS – In the instances where the distance between the regular position for township boundaries is so great that the application of normal rules would result in sections elongated in excess of 120 chains, half-range (or half-township) numbers may be created.
HALF SECTION – See SECTION, HALF.
HALF-TIDE LEVEL – See MEAN TIDE LEVEL.
HALF-TOWNSHIP NUMBERS – In the rare cases where the distance between the regular position for township boundaries is so great that the application of normal rules would result in sections elongated in excess of 120 chains, half-township (or half-range) numbers may be created.
HARMONIOUSLY RELATED – Conditions existing during the corner restoration process when a corner point under consideration reasonably conforms in position to that indicated by evidence at other corners of the survey, considering both the record and the survey conditions.
HAWAII ANNEXATION – The Republic of Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States by the voluntary action of its citizens and a joint resolution of Congress approved July 7, 1898.
HEADING – In mining, a preliminary passageway driven for exploratory purposes or to facilitate future work.
HEADQUARTERS ENTRY – A cash entry of 5 acres or less of public lands in Alaska which are used as a headquarters for a productive industry.
HEADQUARTERS SITE – Five acres or less of public lands in Alaska which are used as, and are subject to entry as, headquarters for a productive industry.
HEARING – Opportunity for testimony and presentation of evidence at proceedings ordered and held pursuant to U.S.D.I. Hearing Procedures (43 C.F.R. 1850).
HEAVE – In mining, the horizontal distance between the parts of a vein that have been separated by a fault, measured along the strike of the fault.
HEAVY BEARING – A survey slang term for a bearing which departs markedly from cardinal.
HECTARE – A metric unit of area equal to 100 ares or 2.471 acres.
HEREDITAMENT – Property subject to inheritance.
HIATUS – An area between two surveys, the record of which describes them as having one or more common boundary lines with no omission.
HIGH WATER – 1) The maximum height or stage reached by rising water. 2) (NOS) The maximum height reached by a rising tide.
HIGH WATER LINE (NOS) – The intersection of the land with the water surface at an elevation of high water.
HIGH WATER MARK – 1) The line which the water impresses on the soil by covering it for sufficient periods to deprive it of upland vegetation. 2) (NOS) A line or mark left upon tide flats, beach, or alongshore objects indicating the elevation of the intrusion of high water.
HIGHWAY ABANDONMENT – Non-use of public roads, usually defined by statute law in the various states.
HISTORICAL INDEX – A chronological summary of all actions which affect, have affected, or will affect the title to, disposition of, or use status of lands and resources within a township.
HISTORIC COAST LINE – The coast line position at the date of statehood from which seaward distances may be measured to determine territorial waters of some States.
HOME-SITE ENTRY – The terms of the Act of May 14, 1898, provided for each entry of 5 acres or less of public lands in Alaska used for residence purposes.
HOMESTEAD ENTRY – An entry under the United States land laws for the purpose of acquiring title to a portion of the public domain under the homestead laws.
HOMESTEAD ENTRY, ORIGINAL – An original entry under the homestead laws, also, the first homestead entry which was made by any individual.
HOMESTEAD ENTRY SURVEY – A metes and bounds of lands entered under the Act of June 11, 1906 (34 Stat 233), as amended.
HOMESTEAD SETTLEMENT, ALASKA – Settlement, for homestead purposes, of unsurveyed or surveyed public land in Alaska according to the provisions of the Act of May 14, 1898.
HOVERSIGHT – [Description missing.]
HUMBOLDT MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in northwestern California; it was adopted in 1853.
HUNTSVILLE MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in northern Alabama and a small part of Mississippi; it was adopted in 1807.
HYDROGRAPHIC DIVIDE – Ridge or elevated land area which separates the direction of flow of streams and rivers.

I

IA – Iowa.
IA (Land Status Records) – Indian Allotment.
IAS – Indian Allotment Survey.
IBID. – An abbreviation for "ibidem," a Latin term meaning "in the same place," "in the same book," etc.
IBLA – Interior Board of Land Appeals.
IC (Land Status Records) – Interim Conveyance.
ID. – Abbreviation for "idem," a Latin term meaning "the same."
ID – Idaho.
ID (Land Status Records) – Interior Decisions.
IDEN (Land Status Records) – Identify, Identification.
IND MER (Land Status Records) – Indian Meridian.
IND RES (Land Status Records) – Indian Reservation.
IND TR (Land Status Records) – Indian Trust.
INTPR (Land Status Records) – Interpretation.
IPS – Iron Pipe Size. Also plural for Iron Post.
IS (Land Status Records) – Indemnity selection.
IT (Land Status Records) – Isolated tract.
IMPERCEPTIBLE – See Gradual & Imperceptible.
INCHOATE – Imperfect; partial; unfinished. Begun but not completed.
INCHOATE TITLE – The beginning of a title or one not yet perfected into a legal title.
INCORPOREAL PROPERTY – Property which cannot be seen or touched.
INCREMENT BORER – A tool used to cut a plug from a tree to determine its age.
INDEMNITY LANDS – Alternate lands granted to states under the public land laws.
INDIAN PATENT – A patent which is issued to an Indian.
INDIAN POWER RESERVE – A power-site reserve within an Indian reservation.
INDIAN PUEBLO – An Indian reservation for the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico.
INDIAN PUEBLO ENTRY – A claim by a non-Indian for a patent to land within an Indian pueblo.
INDIAN RESERVATION – Lands reserved for the use of native Indians and, in Alaska, for Aleuts and Eskimos.
INDIAN RESERVATION EXCHANGE – An exchange whereby the Federal Government receives title to lands within an Indian reservation.
INDIAN TRUST PATENT – An Indian patent issued with the condition that title to the land remains in trust for the patentee.
INDICATED CORNER – A corner of the public land surveys whose location cannot be verified by the criteria necessary to class it as a found or existent corner.
INDIRECT MEASUREMENT – Determination of a distance using a method that employs both direct measurement and calculation.
INDIVIDUAL LIEU SELECTION, RAILROAD – An individual selection of lands to satisfy lieu lands for railroad grants.
IN FEE – Ownership in land. See FEE SIMPLE.
INFORMATIVE TRAVERSE – A survey to obtain topographic data or define the present river bank.
INFRA – Below. Under. Refers to matter in a later part of the publication.
INGRESS – The right to enter a tract of land.
INGRESS, EGRESS AND REGRESS – The right of a lessee to enter, go upon, and return from the lands in question.
INITIAL MONUMENT – A physical structure marking the location of an initial point in the rectangular system of surveys.
INITIAL POINT – A point established under the rectangular system of surveys to initiate the cadastral survey.
INITIAL POINT, PUBLIC LAND SURVEYS WITHOUT – There are eight public-land surveys, seven in Ohio and one in Indiana, which have no initial point as origin for township and range numbers. They are: The Ohio River Survey, started in 1785, in which townships are numbered North from the Ohio River and ranges are numbered West from the west boundary of Pennsylvania; The U.S. Military Survey, started in 1797, in which townships are numbered North from the south boundary of the military grant and ranges are numbered West from the west boundary of the Seven Ranges; The West of the Great Miami, started in 1798, in which townships are numbered North from the Great Miami River and the ranges are numbered East from the Ohio-Indiana boundary; The Ohio River Base (Indiana), started in 1799, in which the townships are numbered North from the Ohio River and the ranges are numbered from the Ohio-Indiana boundary and its projection south; The Scioto River Base, started in 1799, in which the townships are numbered North from the Scioto River and the ranges are numbered West from the west boundary of Pennsylvania; The Muskingum River Survey, started in 1800, in which the townships are numbered 1 and 2 and the range in number 10; The Between the Miamis, north of Symmes Purchase, started in 1802, in which the townships are numbered EAST from the Great Miami River and the ranges are numbered NORTH from the Ohio River (as a continuation of the numbering of Symmes Purchase) and the Twelve-Mile-Square Reserve, started in 1805, in which the townships are numbered 1,2,3 and 4 and there is no range number.
INLAND WATERS – Such waters as canals, lakes, rivers, watercourses, inlets and bays, exclusive of the open sea, though the water in question may open or empty into the ocean.
IN PRAESENTI – At the present time. The Swamp Lands Act of 1850 is an example of a grant taking effect in praesenti, that is, on the date of the passage of the act.
INSTRUMENT – An angle measuring device such as a compass, transit or theodolite. See INSTRUMENT, LEGAL.
INSTRUMENT, LEGAL – A written document. A formal or legal document in writing, such as a contract, deed, lease, will, bond or other writing of a formal or solemn character, such as a document given as a means of affording evidence. See DOCUMENT.
INTEREST – As applied to lands, "interest" means any direct or indirect ownership in whole or in part of the lands and resources of the lands. It includes any participation in the earnings therefrom, or the right to occupy or use the property or to take any benefits therefrom based upon lease or rental agreements, or upon any formal or informal contract with a person who has such an interest. It includes membership in a firm, or ownership of stock or other securities in a corporation which has such an interest.
INTERIOR ANGLE*.
INTERIOR BOARD OF LAND APPEALS – See BOARD OF LAND APPEALS.
INTERIOR DECISIONS – Decisions of the Department of the Interior. Prior to 1932 these decisions were called "Land Decisions" and included volumes 1 thru 52. Since 1932 they have been published and referred to as "Interior Decisions," and are cited thus: 60 I.D. 85. See LAND DECISIONS and BOARD OF LAND APPEALS.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT GRANT – A grant made to aid in the construction of roads, canals, railroads, or for other public improvements.
INTERPRETATION OF PLAT – Deductions which are based on symbols, bearings, areas and dates of approval shown on plats and which are used to determine the probable intention when information is missing or ambiguous, or when data shown on various plats needs clarification. See PROTECT THE PLAT.
INTERROGATORIES – A set or series of questions drawn up in writing for the purpose of being propounded to a party in equity, a garnishee, or a witness whose testimony is taken on deposition. In taking evidence on depositions, the interrogatories are usually prepared and settled by counsel, and reduced to writing prior to the examination. See DEPOSITION.
INTERSECTION – 1) The method of establishing the legal center of section and the centers of the various quarter sections. 2) The point at which a survey line passes through an object, such as a tree. 3) The point of crossing of two or more survey lines with each other, usually a junior line crossing a senior line. 4) The legal point of closing where a junior line closes on a senior (fixed) line. 5) The confluence of two or more streams of water. 6) The cutting or crossing in any combination of straight lines, curves, or semitangents to curves. 7) Area where two streets or roads intersect, generally including the space enclosed by the right-of-way lines as extended plus any transition curved boundaries. See LINE TREE, JUNIOR LINE, SENIOR LINE, INTERSECTION* AND CONFLUENCE*.
INTESTATE – Without making a will. A person is said to die intestate when he dies without leaving a valid will to testify what his wishes were with respect to the disposal of his property after his death. The word is also used to signify the person himself, as "the intestate’s property."
INTRALIMITAL RIGHTS – In mining, rights extending downward within the limits of the claim to center of the earth. All surface rights and everything within the limits of his intralimital rights, except the extralateral rights attached to other veins apexing in another’s claim, belong to the owner of the claim. There are no rights to explore in another’s land or to approach the vein from any location other than the vein itself. If veins intersect, all the ore within the intersection belongs to the senior claimant, but a right of way through the intersection is assured. See EXTRALATERAL RIGHTS.
INURE – To take effect; to result. Provide service to the use or benefit of a person.
INVESTIGATIVE SURVEY – A preliminary survey made to determine the physical condition of existing Cadastral Survey evidence.
IPSO FACTO – By the mere fact itself.
IPSO JURE – By the law itself; by the mere operation of the law.
IRON POST – The iron post adopted by BLM for monumenting the surveys of the public lands evolved after passage of the 1908 act which provided for the purchase of the 1908 act which provided for the purchase of metal monuments to be used for public-land survey corners wherever practicable. Specifications for the brass-capped survey marker call for zinc-coated pipe cut to 30-inch lengths. One end of the pipe is split and the two halves are spread to form flanges. The dimension from the top of the pipe to the top of the brass cap is from ¼ to ½ inch. The measurement from tip to tip of the flanges is specified at 4½ inches. The measurement from the foot of the flange to the top of the marker is 28 inches, more or less. The inside diameter of the pipe is 2 inches. The weight is approximately 9 pounds. The words "U.S. DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR BUR. OF LAND MANAGEMENT – UNLAWFUL TO DISTRUB – CADASTRAL SURVEY" and (at least for the next several years), the numerals "19," are cast into the brass cap.
IRREGULAR – As applied to units of the rectangular system, exceeding the rectangular limits.
IRREGULAR BOUNDARY – Township or section lines not originally established as straight lines or which a retracement reveals as not having been surveyed as a straight line. See IRREGULAR BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT.
IRREGULAR BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT – A modified form of single proportionate measurement used in restoring some lost corners. Sometimes considered as a Broken Boundary Adjustment. See IRREGULAR BOUNDARY, BROKEN BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT and ADJUSTMENT*.
IRREGULAR SECTION – A section having two or more adjacent boundaries, as returned on the original survey, that are not within 0° 21’ of cardinal or exceed 25 links from 40 chains in measurement.
ISLAND – A body of land extending above and completely surrounded by water at ordinary high water. See ORDINARY HIGH WATER and ISLAND*.
ISOLATED TRACT – A parcel of vacant public lands, not exceeding *1,520 acres, which is surrounded by appropriated lands.

J

JURIS (Land Status Records) – Jurisdiction.
JACOB’S STAFF – A single staff or pole used for mounting a surveyor’s compass or other instrument. Used instead of a tripod, a Jacob’s staff is fitted with a ball-and-socket joint at its upper end, by means of which the instrument is adjusted to a level position; the foot is fitted with a metal shoe which facilitates pressing the staff firmly into the ground. Many of the early land surveys in this country were made with surveyor’s compasses mounted upon Jacob’s staffs.
JAIL-SITE RESERVE – A reservation of public lands in Alaska, not exceeding 4,000 square feet originally for use as a Territorial Jail Site.
JOINDER OF ACTIONS – This expression signifies the uniting of two or more demands or rights of action in one action or lawsuit.
JUDGMENT – In law an official formal decision given by a court, in another meaning, an obligation (as a debt) created by the decree of the court.
JUNIOR CORNER – A corner which is part of a survey occurring at a date subsequent to a prior (senior) survey.
JUNIOR LINE – Survey lines created at different times have different standings. The "junior" line would be the line created subsequent to an earlier line. See JUNIOR RIGHTS.
JUNIOR RIGHTS – Subordinate to the senior rights. The later patent issued usually has the subordinate right in a situation where a later survey is in conflict with an earlier survey. The first patent issued usually has the superior (senior) right and the second patent usually has the subordinate (junior) right, regardless of the dates of the original surveys.
JUNIOR SURVEY – A survey made subsequent to an earlier survey. See SENIOR SURVEY.

K

KAN – Kansas. See Kansas Land Surveyors
KCLA (Land Status Records) – Known Coal Leasing Area
KGRA (Land Status Records) – Known Geothermal Resource Area
KGS (Land Status Records) – Known Leasing Area
KR MER (Land Status Records) – Kateel River Meridian
KS – Kansas. See Kansas Land Surveyors Forum
KY – Kentucky. See Kentucky Land Surveyors
KATEEL RIVER MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in western central Alaska; it was adopted in 1956
KINKAID HOMESTEAD ENTRY – A homestead entry, not exceeding 320 acres (formerly, 640 acres), initiated under the act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat. 547, 43 U.S.C. sec. 224), which provides for the homesteading of nonirrigable agricultural lands in parts of Nebraska
KNOWN ALL MEN – Used in conveyancing. A form of public address, of great antiquity, and with which many written instruments such as bonds, deeds, letters of attorney, etc., still begin

L

LA – Louisiana
LA MER (Land Status Records) – Louisiana Meridian
LAT (Land Status Records) – Latitude
LCR – Lower Colorado River
LD (Land Status Records) – Interior Land Decisions
LH (Land Status Records) – Light House
LIC (Land Status Records) – License
LM – See UNITED STATES LOCATION MONUMENT
LO (Land Status Records) – Land Office
LOC (Land Status Records) – Location
LONG (Land Status Records) – Longitude
L&R – Division of Lands and Recreation
LS – Land Surveyor – if followed by a number it indicated the land surveyor’s registration number
LS (Land Status Records) – Lieu selection
LSBL (Land Status Records) – Leaseable
LSE (Land Status Records) – Lease
LTR (Land Status Records) – Letter
LU (Land Status Records) – Land Utilization
LACHES – Failure to do something which should be done or to claim or enforce a right at a proper time
LAKES, MEANDERED – From 1851 until the issuance of the Manual of Surveying Instructions, 1973, all lakes of the area of 25 acres or more were meandered...
LAMBERT CONFORMAL CONIC MAP PROJECTION – A map plotting system in which points on the ellipsoid are mathematically projected onto a cone...
LAND CLAIM – See PRIVATE LAND CLAIM and DONATION LAND CLAIM
LAND COURT – A tribunal established for the purpose of administering legislative statutes relating to land boundaries and titles...
LAND DECISIONS – Decisions of the Department of the Interior relating to the Public lands...
LAND DEPARTMENT – The generalized term adopted in legal literature to denote the Secretary of the Interior...
LAND DISTRICT – the area administered by a particular land office...
LAND LINE ADJUSTMENT
LANDMARK – 1) Any monument or material mark or fixed object used to designate the location of a land boundary on the ground...
LAND OFFICE – A Government office, subordinate to the General Land Office...
LAND OFFICE STATUS PLAT – The triplicate plat of a survey used to be referred to as the status plat...
LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785 – See ORDINANCE OF MAY 20, 1785
LAND REGISTRATION (Torrens system) – See TORRENS REGISTRATION SYSTEM
LANDS OPEN TO MINERAL LOCATION – Lands held by the United States for disposal under the land laws are open to mineral location...
LANDS SUBJECT TO SURVEY – In accordance with legal requirements, the public domain lands of the United States that have not yet been surveyed under the system of rectangular surveys are subject to survey...
LAND STATUS RECORDS – Those records maintained by the Bureau of Land management, showing ownership of the public lands and the availability of the lands for use under the public land laws...
LAND SURVEYING – The practice of land surveying includes surveying of areas for their correct determination and description and for conveyancing, or for the establishment or reestablishment of land boundaries and the plotting of lands and subdivisions thereof...
LASER
LATERAL BOUNDARIES – Side boundaries; boundaries between adjacent states extending from shore to their seaward boundaries under Public law 31; boundaries between adjacent nations through the marginal sea and the contiguous zones
LATITUDE – 1) The distance on the earth’s surface, north or south of the Equator, expressed in either linear or angular measurements...
LEAGUE – A marine measure of distance. In different times and countries it has varied from 2.4 miles to 4.6 miles...
LEASABLE MINERALS – Oil and gas; oil shale; coal; potash; phosphate; sodium; sulphur in Louisiana and New Mexico; gold, silver, and quicksilver in certain private land claims; and silica deposits in certain parts of Nevada...
LEASE – 1) A contract granting possession or control of real property for a determined period...
LEASE MAP – Former name for the Outer Continental Shelf Official Protraction Diagrams
LEDGE – In mining law, and in popular usage in the Western States, it is synonymous with “lode” and “vein.” See LODE
LEFT BANK (River) – The bank on the left-hand side of a stream or river as one faces downstream. See RIGHT BANK (River)
LEGAL DESCRIPTION – A written statement recognized by law as to the definite location of a tract of land by reference to a survey, recorded map or adjoining property
LEGAL SUBDIVISION – The subdivision of a township, such as a section, half-section, quarter-section, quarter-quarter or sixteenth-section, or lotting, including the lot, section, township and range numbers and the description of the principal meridian to which referred, all according to the approved township plat...
LEGEND – A description, explanation or table of symbols printed on a map or chart to permit a better understanding or interpretation of it
LETTER “E” – Under a General Land Office system of paperwork classification, Letter “E” documents originated to the Washington Office and referred to engineering functions
LEVEL
LEVEE – An embankment alongside a river to prevent high water from flooding bordering lands
LIEU LANDS – Former public lands within specified limits (Indemnity Limits) which were granted instead of (in lieu of) areas intended to be granted but which were already patented or otherwise not available. See INDEMNITY LIMITS, PLACE LANDS and LIEU SELECTION
LIEU SELECTION – An application to acquire title to public lands in exchange for which the applicant relinquishes his rights or title to other lands which he, for some reason, cannot or does not wish to acquire or hold
LIMITED DEPENDENT RESURVEY – A dependent resurvey limited to a certain portion of a township
LIMITING BOUNDARY – The boundary of lands actually surveyed. The term is usually used to describe a particular boundary in special cases...
LINE, RANDOM – See RANDOM LINE
LINE TREE – A tree intersected by a surveyed line, reported in the field notes of the survey, and marked with two hacks or notches cut on each of the sides facing the line...
LINE TREES, Ownership of – Trees whose trunks are wholly upon the land of one owner belong exclusively to him. Trees whose trunks stand partly on the land of two or more abutting owners belong to them in common.
LINK – a unit of linear measure, one hundredth of a chain and equivalent to 7.92 inches (0.66 foot). See CHAIN
LIQUIDATED DAMAGES – An assessment of monetary charges determined in advance by contractual agreement as compensation for some breach of a contract
LITTORAL – From the Latin “litus.” Of or pertaining to the shore, especially of the sea. A coastal region
LITTORAL CURRENTS (T.R. No. 4) – The nearshore currents primarily due to wave action, e.g. longshore currents and rip currents
LITTORAL DRIFT (T.R. No. 4) – The material moved in the littoral zone under the influence of waves and currents
LITTORAL OWNER – One who owns land abutting a sea or ocean where the tide regularly rises and falls. In common usage, the word “riparian” is often used instead of littoral to include seashore boundaries as well as inland water boundaries
LIVERY OF SEISIN – The appropriate ceremony, at common law, for transferring the possession of lands or tenements by a grantor to his grantee. This method of transfer is now replaced by granting of deeds and by Recording Statutes
LOBE
LOCAL CORNER – Physical evidence accepted by local land owners to be at a corner of the public lands survey; a local point of control
LOCAL POINT OF CONTROL – See LOCAL CORNER
LOCATION – In mining, the perfecting of a right to possession of a mining claim for mining purposes. This includes the staking of the claim, sinking a discovery shaft, discovery of a valuable mineral...
LOCATION CORNER – a term applied to a position determined and marked by the locator (claimant) to distinctly and clearly define the boundaries of a mining claim on the ground...
LOCATION MONUMENT – See UNITED STATES LOCATION MONUMENT
LOCATION NOTICE – In mining, a public notice of location of a mining claim. The object of the notice is to inform the public...
LOCATION SURVEY
LODE – Mineralized rock lying within boundaries clearly separating it from the neighboring rock and extending longitudinally in a continuous zone or belt...
LODE CLAIM – a mining claim embracing public lands which contain minerals occurring in a vein or lode. See MINERAL SURVEY and PLACER CLAIM
LONGITUDE – The distance on the earth’s surface, east or west of a defined meridian, usually the meridian Greenwich (0 Longitude), expressed in either angular measure...
LOST CORNER – A corner whose position cannot be determined, beyond reasonable doubt, either from traces of the original marks or from acceptable evidence or testimony that bears on the original position...
LOT – A subdivision of a section which is not described as an aliquot part of the section, but which is designated by number, e.g., LOT 2...
LOU ISIANA MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in the greater part of Louisiana; it was adopted in 1807
LOUISIANA PURCHASE – The territory purchased from France in 1803. It was the earliest acquisition by the United States of territory claimed by a European power...
LOUISIANA SWAMP LAND ACT OF 1849 – The Act of March 2, 1849 (9 Stat. 352), granted to the State of Louisiana all the swamp and overflowed lands within the limits of the State for the purpose of aiding in the reclamation of said lands...
LOW-WATER MARK – The stage to which a river or other inland body of water recedes, under ordinary conditions, as its lowest stage or elevation. Low-water mark should not be used in reference to tidal waters...
LOXODROME – See RHUMB LINE
LUDLOW’S MERIDIAN – See FIRST PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN

M

M – Mile, as marked on monuments and/or accessories
m – Meter
MA – Massachusetts
MATS (Land Status Records) – Material site
M&B (Land Status Records) – Metes and Bounds
MC – Meander Corner
MC (Land Status Records) – Mineral Certificate; Also Min Cert
MCOA or MOA (Land Status Records) – Mining Claim Occupancy Act
MD – Maryland
MD MER (Land Status Records) – Mount Diablo Meridian
ME – Maine
ME (Land Status Records) – Mineral Entry
MER (Land Status Records) – Meridian
MES – Mineral Entry Survey
MGMT (Land Status Records) – Management
MI – Michigan
MICH. – Michigan
MICH MER (Land Status Records) – Michigan Meridian
MIL PUR (Land Status Records) – Military Purpose
MIL RES (Land Status Records) – Military Reservation
MIL RG (Land Status Records) – Military Road Grant
MIL WRG (Land Status Records) – Military Wagon Road Grant
MILLS (Land Status Records) – Millsite
MIN (Land Status Records) – Mineral
MIN CERT or MC (Land Status Records) – Mineral certificate
MINN. – Minnesota
MISC (Land Status Records) – Miscellaneous
MISS. – Mississippi
ML (Land Status Records) – Mineral location
MLCI (Land Status Records) – Mineral Location and Contest Index
MM (Land Status Records) – Mineral Monument
MN – Minnesota
MO – Missouri
MOA (Land Status Records) – Mining Claim Occupancy Act
MOD (Land Status Records) – Modification
MON (Land Status Records) – Monument
MONT. – Montana
MONT PRIN MER (Land Status Records) – Montana Principal Meridian. See PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, MONTANA
M AND P FACTORS – Tables used to convert short distances expressed in seconds of latitude (Meridional) and seconds of longitude (Parallel) into feet, or chains, at various latitudes
M.S. – Mineral Survey. As used in field notes
MS – Mississippi
MS (Land Status Records) – Mineral Survey
MT – Montana
MTN (Land Status Records) – Mountain
MTP (Land Status Records) – Master Title Plat
MULT USE (Land Status Records) – Multiple Use
MAGNETIC DECLINATION – The bearing on a given date (reckoned east or west from the north branch of the celestial meridian plane) of magnetic north as determined by the positive pole of a freely suspended magnetic needle which is subject to no transient artificial disturbance
MAGNETIC VARIATION – Regular or erratic change in magnetic declination. Not interchangeable with declination but old field notes use Var. as the declination of the compass
MAIN CHANNEL – See CHANNEL, MAIN
MANAGER – Under Reorganization Plan No. 3, which created the Bureau of Land Management in July 1946, the functions and powers of a “Register” were to become those of a “Manager” of a district land office. See REGISTER
M AND P FACTORS – Tables used to convert short distances expressed in seconds of latitude (Meridional) and seconds of longitude (Parallel) into feet, or chains, at various latitudes
MANUAL OF INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SURVEY OF THE PUBLIC LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1973 – Short title: “Manual of Surveying Instructions, 1973.” Also referred to as “The 1973 Manual,” “The BLM Manual,” “The 1973 BLM Manual,” “The Manual” and slang, the Blue Book
MAP – A representation on a plane surface, at an established scale, of the physical features (natural, artificial, or both) of a part or the whole of the earth’s surface, by means of signs and symbols, and with the means of orientation indicated. See QUADRANGLE MAPS, MAP* and MAP PROJECTION
MAPPING ANGLE
MARGINAL DATA – A memorandum in the margin of a cadastral survey plat. The memorandum is intended to correlate and consolidate information regarding the record of surveys as shown on the plat. Under the General Land Office, the practice was to show this data in box-tabulated form on plats of original surveys
MARKETABILITY TEST – Used in determining whether or not a discovered mineral deposit is “valuable” under the meaning of the law, it is the test of whether or not the mineral can be extracted and marketed at a profit. It is a complement to and refinement of the “prudent man test.” See MINERAL, VALUABLE and PRUDENT MAN TEST
MARSH – An area of low-lying, wet ground subject to frequent or regular flooding or ordinarily covered with water. Marsh vegetation is composed chiefly of reeds, grasses and grasslike plants. In Cadastral Survey usage the word “marsh” has usually been used to refer to coastal “salt marshes.” See BOG, SWAMP and SALT MARSH
MASTER TITLE PLAT – A composite of the survey plats of a township on which is shown the ownership and land status. See SUPPLEMENTAL MASTER TITLE PLAT and USE PLAT
MEAN BEARING – 1) The average (mean) of the forward and the back bearing of a straight line. 2) The average of the bearings of an irregular boundary whose courses are nearly equal in length. 3) The weighted average of the azimuths of an irregular boundary after conversion to an equivalent bearing. 4) The average of the bearings of opposite subdivision lines. 5) The mean of a series of bearings obtained by measurement. See BACK BEARING
MEANDER CORNER – A corner established at the intersection of standard, township or section lines with the meander line near banks of navigable streams or any meanderable body of water
MEANDER FIELD BOOK – Page 24 of the Manual of Surveying Instructions, 1851, states: “Both banks of navigable streams are to be meandered by taking the courses and distances of their sinuosities and the same are to be entered in the meander field book”
MEANDER LINE – The traverse run at the line of mean highwater of a permanent natural body of water. In original surveys, meander lines are not run as boundary lines. They are run to generally define the sinuosities of the bank or shore line and for determining the quantity of land in the fractional sections remaining after segregation of the water area
MEAN HIGH WATER – 1) The elevation of the water at the margin of the area occupied by the water for the greater portion of each average year, as determined by vegetative, on topographic changes. 2) As applied by NOS, the mean of all high waters are a considerable period of time, usually 18.6 or 19 years
MEAN LOW WATER (USC & GS. S.P. 242) – The mean height of all low waters at a particular point or station over a considerable period of time. For tidal waters, the cycle of change covers a period of about 18.6 years, and the mean low water is the mean of all low waters for that period. For any body of water, it is the mean of all low waters over a period of time of such length that increasing its length does not appreciably change the mean
MEAN SEA LEVEL – The average height of the surface of the sea for all stages of the tide over a 19-year period, usually determined from hourly height readings
MEAN TIDE LEVEL – (Also called half-tide level) a plane midway between mean high water and mean low water. Because of the lack of symmetry of the tidal curve this is not the same as mean sea level. See MEAN SEA LEVEL
MECHANICAL PHOTOTRIANGULATION – This method (also known as the analogue or instrumental method) of phototriangulation establishes positions and elevations by use of an instrument viewing a spatial model. Precise connections are made between successive models which in turn are tied to vertical and horizontal control. This method which, after adjustment, allows an accurately scaled representation of the project area to be depicted, has been used for several successful cadastral survey projects. However, due to the fact that the accuracy of the data obtained by use of the analytical process is usually of a higher order than that obtained by the mechanical methods, the Bureau of Land Management has adopted analytical phototriangulation for use in photogrammetric cadastral surveys. See ANALYTICAL PHOTOTRIANGULATION
MEDIAL – Situated in or pertaining to the middle; intermediate. See MEDIAL LINE
MEDIAL LINE – In surveying, the term refers to a particular line which must be determined by the consideration of various factors, or the weighing of evidence, as well as the use of measurement and/or calculation. An example would be the determination of the center of the main channel of a river as distinguished from the measurement or calculation of a line midway between its banks. Occasionally used as though synonymous with "median line." See MEDIAN LINE, CHANNEL and MAIN AND GRADIENT BOUNDARY
MEDIAN – Noting or pertaining to a plane dividing something into two equal parts, especially one dividing a thing into left and right halves. In geometry, a straight line from the vertex of a triangle to midpoint on the opposite side. See MEDIAN LINE
MEDIAN LINE – The "median line" of a body of water is a line, every point of which is equidistant from the nearest point on opposite banks or other reference lines. The median is a continuous line formed by intersecting straight line or curve segments. "Median line" may also refer to the average of the distances between non-parallel lines. See MEDIAL LINE and MEDIUM FILUM ACQUAE
MEDIATION – The act of a third person who comes between two opposing parties in order to persuade them to compromise, adjust or settle their dispute
MEDIATOR – A third person who tries to get two opposing parties to reach a compromise or otherwise settle their dispute
MEDIUM FILUM ACQUAE – The geographic middle of a river supposed to divide it into two equal parts, without considering the channel or channels of the river. Identical with a median line, every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points of the baseline on the opposite shores. See THALWEG
MEMORIAL – A durable article deposited in the ground at the position of a corner to perpetuate that position should the monument be removed or destroyed. The memorial is usually deposited at the base of the monument and may consist of anything durable, such as glass or stoneware, a marked stone, charred stake or a quantity of charcoal
MERIDIAN – 1) A north-south line from which longitudes (or departures) and azimuths are reckoned; or a plane, normal to the geoid or spheroid, defining such a line. 2) A flag or sight near a survey camp used to test solar transit for adjustment. See PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, GUIDE MERIDIAN, AUXILIARY GUIDE MERIDIAN, GREENWICH MERIDIAN and WASHINGTON MERIDIAN
MERIDIONAL LINE – A north-south line or a line along a meridian of longitude
MESNE CONVEYANCE – Pronounced "mean." An intermediate conveyance, one occupying an intermediate position in a chain of title between the first grantee and the present holder
METER*
METES AND BOUNDS – A method of describing a parcel of land by citing the owners of abutting lands and describing the length of each course of a boundary as "along" some apparent line, such as, "along a stream" or "along the road." In modern usage, a metes and bounds description includes the bearings and distances of each course
METES-AND-BOUNDS SURVEY – A survey of an irregularly shaped tract of land, not conforming to the rectangular system of surveys
MEXICAN CESSION – Territory included approximately within the present limits of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, ceded to the United States in 1848 under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. See TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO
MICHIGAN MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in Michigan and in the extreme northwestern part of Ohio
MICRONESIA – See TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
MILE CORNER – The "mile corner" of a state, reservation or grant boundary does not mark a point of a subdivision; it is a station along the line. Long usage has given acceptance to the term. Sometimes called "mile posts."
MILE POST – See MILE CORNER
MILITARY BOUNTY LAND WARRANT – Authorization to obtain public lands as a reward for military service. It was issued in the form of scrip which could be exchanged for specified amounts of land in designated areas
MILITARY RESERVATION – Federal lands which have been dedicated for military purposes of the Department of the Army. See NAVAL RESERVE
MILITARY WAGON ROAD GRANT – See WAGON ROAD GRANT
MILL SITE – Up to 5 acres of public land may be claimed for the purpose of processing minerals. Mill sites are limited to lands that do not contain valuable minerals
MILL SITE ENTRY – A cash entry of nonmineral public lands which are to be used as a mill site for the reduction of ore in the development of a lode claim
MINERAL EXAMINER – An employee of the Bureau of Land Management who, prior to patent, conducts a field examination to determine the validity, under the law, of a mining claim. To be a bona fide claim, for example, the discovered mineral deposit must be valuable. See MINERAL, VALUABLE; PRUDENT MAN TEST and MARKETABILITY TEST
MINERAL LOCATION AND CONTEST INDEX – A component of the land status records; it is a listing by township and range of mineral location notices filed under special mining claim recording laws, abandonments and relinquishments of mining claims secured by the Government, and of actions initiated to determine the validity of mineral, agricultural and other claims on national resource lands. See LAND STATUS RECORDS
MINERAL ADVERSE CLAIM – A notice of protest filed by a rival claimant against the approval of a mineral application
MINERAL APPLICATION – An application to purchase public lands which are held as a mining claim or which are desired as a mill site. See MINERAL LAND ENTRY
MINERAL CLASSIFICATION – Classification of public lands as being valuable for a specified mineral (or minerals); also, the public lands so classified
MINERAL DISCOVERY – See DISCOVERY
MINERAL DISTRICT – A general designation sometimes used in acts of Congress in reference to regions of the country where valuable minerals are mostly found, or where the business of mining is chiefly carried on. It carries no precise meaning and is not a legally recognized term. See ORGANIZED MINING DISTRICT and UNORGANIZED MINING DISTRICT
MINERAL INVESTIGATION – Synonymous with field examination
MINERAL LAND ENTRY – Filing a claim to hold or purchase lands belonging to the public domain and valuable for the minerals they contain, implying a prior discovery of ore and the opening of a mine
MINERAL LANDS – Public lands which have been classified as containing, or are known to contain, valuable minerals
MINERAL LEASE – A lease under the Act of Feb. 25, 1920 (The Mineral leasing Act), as amended and supplemented. It authorizes the development and production of certain leasable minerals from public lands. See LEASABLE MINERALS and PLACER LAW OF 1897
MINERAL LOCATION – A mining claim
MINERAL MONUMENT – A term formerly used; it has been discontinued. See UNITED STATES LOCATION MONUMENT
MINERAL RESERVATION – A clause in a patent which retains minerals in Federal ownership
MINERAL RIGHTS – Rights which attach only to mineral deposits. See SURFACE RIGHTS
MINERAL SEGREGATION SURVEY – The measurements and corner restorations needed to define the boundaries between a mineral claim and other public lands for administrative purposes. Even though it also defines the boundaries of the mineral claim, in whole or in part, that is merely incidental and does not confer any rights to the mineral claimant
MINERAL SURVEY – A cadastral survey of a lode claim, placer claim or millsite with all its notes and plats. This type of survey is executed by a U.S. Mineral Surveyor for the purpose of marking the legal boundaries of mining claims on the public domain. The location and estimated value of mining improvements are returned by the survey but no reference is made to mineral deposits. See APPROVED SURVEY
MINERAL, VALUABLE – A deposit of a mineral ore or substance which is useful in commerce or the arts, occurring in quantity and quality sufficient to justify its mining and removal for sale; also, any quantity of such ore or substance in a vein or lode, the size and continuity of which are such as to justify an ordinarily prudent man in the expenditure of his labor and means in an effort to develop a paying mine
MINERAL WITHDRAWAL FOR CLASSIFICATION – A withdrawal of public lands which are potentially valuable for leasable minerals. The withdrawal precludes the disposal of the lands except with a mineral reservation clause unless the lands are found, upon examination or by other competent evidence, not to contain a valuable deposit of minerals
MINE SURVEY – A survey to determine the positions and dimensions of underground passages of a mine; also of the natural and artificial features – surface and underground – relating to the mine. As cadastral surveys, they are made to detect, or determine the extent of, underground trespass. See MINERAL SURVEY
MINING ACT OF 1866 – The 1866 bill known as H.R. 365 was, most emphatically, a lode mining bill. It became mining law on July 26, 1866, under the astonishing title: "An act granting the Right of Way to Ditch and Canal Owners over the Public Lands, and for other purposes." See PLACER ACT OF 1870 and MINING LAW OF 1872
MINING CLAIM – A parcel of land probably containing valuable mineral in its soil or rock, and appropriated by an individual, according to established rules, by the process of "location."
MINING CLAIM OCCUPANCY ACT – The Act of October 23, 1962 as amended (76 Stat. 1127; 30 U.S.C. 701-704), authorized the Secretary of the Interior to convey to qualified applicants, under its provisions and requirements, maximum tenure consistent with the public interest in the lands which they occupy. This law expired June 30, 1971
MINING DISTRICT – See ORGANIZED MINING DISTRICT and UNORGANIZED MINING DISTRICT
MINING LAW, STATES EXEMPT FROM – See States Exempt From Federal Mining law
MINING LOCATION – See LOCATION and MINING CLAIM
MINOR SUBDIVISIONS – A quarter-quarter section subdivided into quarter-quarter-quarter sections (1/64 or 10 acre units), or aliquot parts as small as 1/256 (2.5 acres)
MISCELLANEOUS CONTROL – A mathematical recovery of a lost corner by allowing every known corner within a reasonable radius which was tied to the missing corner to enter into the control, each control corner being given a weight inversely proportional to its distance from the missing corner
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENT INDEX – A list, by State, of those documents which apply to lands not specifically described on which conditions may exist that would restrict disposition or use of the lands. See LAND STATUS RECORDS
MISCLOSURE – 1) The amount by which a series of survey measurements fail to yield a theoretical or previously determined value for a survey quantity; hence a measure of the accumulated errors and blunders in the work. Also termed "closing error," or "error of closure." 2) An error of closure in excess of specified limits, as in "out of limits." See RESIDUAL ERROR
MISSION-SITE ENTRY – A grant, to a religious society, of public lands which it occupies as a missionary station in Alaska
MONTANA PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – As shown on some MT plats. Technically Principal Meridian, Montana, NOT Montana Principal Meridian. Principal Meridian governs surveys in Montana. It was adopted in 1867
MONUMENT – A physical structure, such as an iron post, marked stone or tree in place, which marks the location of a corner point established by a Cadastral Survey. Objects, to be ranked as monuments, should have certain physical properties such as visibility, durability and stability, and they must define location without resorting to measurements. "Monument" and "corner" are not synonymous, although the two terms are often used largely in the same sense. See CORNER
MONUMENT, LEGAL – The courts and the general public refer to "monument" as if the term includes such things as reference to an adjoining title, a plat, or physical evidence of a boundary, such as a fence. Occasional reference will be made to natural monuments which would more precisely be classed as topography. See MONUMENT
MORE OR LESS – When used in connection with quantity or distance in a conveyance of land are considered words of safety or precaution, intended to cover some slight or unimportant inaccuracy. The same applies to the use of the word "about."
MOUNDS AND PITS – A system of witnessing corner stakes in prairie country
MOUNT DIABLO MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in much of California and all of Nevada; it was adopted in 1851
MOVE – A correction in position to be applied to a temporary stake so that the resulting point will be located at its proper position. Usually calculated as a distance north or south as well as a distance east or west, the plural is common, i.e.; the moves are 6.5 lks. south and 2.1 lks. east. See CORNER MOVE
MUNICIPAL RESERVES – Areas within a townsite which are reserved for the town. Areas within a townsite which are surveyed and set aside for the purposes of the legally incorporated or duly authorized association of the inhabitants of this town. See TOWNSITE

N

N (Land Status Records) – North
NA (Land Status Records) – Native Allotment
NAV MER (Land Status Records) – Navajo Meridian
NB – Nebraska
NC – North Carolina
nc (Land Status Records) – Noncompetitive
ND – North Dakota
N. DAK. – North Dakota
NE (Land Status Records) – Northeast
NEB. – Nebraska
N.E.P.A. – National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The Act of Congress of January 1, 1970, Public Law 91-190, 83 Stat. 852, 42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.
NEV. – Nevada
NF (Land Status Records) – National Forest
NGS – National Geodetic Survey
NG SEL (Land Status Records) – Native Group Selection
NH – New Hampshire
NIT (Land Status Records) – Nitrate
NJ – New Jersey
NM – New Mexico
N. MEX. – New Mexico
N MEX PRIN MER (Land Status Records) – New Mexico Principal Meridian
N MON (Land Status Records) – National Monument
N.M.P.M. (Private Practice of Surveying) – New Mexico Principle Meridian
NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOE (Land Status Records) – Not Open to Entry
NOL (Land Status Records) – Not Open to Lease
NOM (Land Status Records) – Not Open to Mining
NOS – National Ocean Survey
NP (Land Status Records) – National Park
NPPR (Land Status Records) – Native Primary Place of Residence
N.P.S., NPS – National Park Service
NRL (Land Status Records) – National Resource lands
NV – Nevada
NW (Land Status Records) – Northwest
NWR (Land Status Records) – National Wildlife Refuge
NY – New York
NATIONAL FOREST – A reservation of a forest or watershed which is administered by the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture
NATIONAL FOREST EXCHANGE – An exchange whereby the Federal Government receives title to lands within a National Forest
NATIONAL FOREST HOMESTEAD ENTRY – A homestead entry, not exceeding 160 acres, initiated under the Act of June 11, 1906 (34 Stat. 233, 16 U.S.C. sec. 506), which provided for the homesteading within National forests of public lands classified and listed as more valuable for agricultural than the forestry purposes. (Repealed October 23, 1962)
NATIONAL FOREST HOMESTEAD ENTRY SURVEYS – Under the Act of June 11, 1906 (34 Stat. 233, 16 U.S.C. sec. 506), surveys of homestead entries within National forests were performed, usually, by Forest Service surveyors under Special Instructions from, and subject to approval by the General Land Office. This Act was repealed Oct. 23, 1962 (76 Stat. 1157), and these surveys are no longer executed
NATIONAL FOREST HOMESTEAD LANDS – Public lands in National Forests which were opened to National Forest homestead entry
NATIONAL FOREST LIEU SELECTION – A parcel of land chosen to replace land located within a national forest, the rights to which were relinquished prior to March 3, 1905
NATIONAL MEMORIAL – A reservation embracing memorials of national interest which is administered by the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior
NATIONAL MONUMENT – A reservation embracing objects of historic and scientific interest which is administered by the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior
NATIONAL PARK – A reservation embracing recreational areas which is administered by the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior
NATIONAL RESOURCE LANDS – All of the lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management
NATIVE ALLOTMENT (Alaska) – Under the terms and provisions of the Act of May 17, 1906, as amended, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to allot not to exceed 160 acres of vacant, unappropriated and unreserved nonmineral land in Alaska; or, subject to the provisions of the Act of March 8, 1922, of vacant, unappropriated and unreserved public land in Alaska that may be valuable for coal, oil or gas deposits; or, under certain conditions, of National Forest Lands in Alaska, to any Indian, Aleut or Eskimo of full or mixed blood who resides in and is a native of Alaska, and who is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years of age. An allotment will not be made until the lands are surveyed by BLM, and until satisfactory proof of 5 years continuous use and occupancy by the applicant has been approved by the Director of BLM
NATIVE TOWNSITE (Alaska) – the Act of May 25, 1926, provides for the townsite survey and disposition of public lands set apart or reserved for the benefit of Indian or Eskimo occupants in trustee townsites in Alaska, and for the survey and disposal of the lands occupied as native towns or villages. The Act of Feb. 26, 1948, provides for the issuance of an unrestricted deed to any competent native for a tract of land claimed and occupied by him within any such trustee townsite. Native towns occupied partly by white occupants are to be surveyed under the provisions of both the Act of March 3, 1891, and the Act of May 25, 1926
NAVAJO EXCHANGE – An exchange whereby the Federal Government receives title to lands within the Navajo Indian Reservation
NAVAJO LIEU SELECTION – A lieu selection in connection with which the applicant relinquishes rights to land within the Navajo Indian Reservation
NAVAJO MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in a small part of northeastern Arizona; it was adopted in 1869. Originally, it also governed surveys in a small part of northwestern New Mexico. Only a few townships governed by it were surveyed in New Mexico and no disposals based upon those surveys were made. The Commissioner of the General Land Office, by letter dated July 28, 1936, canceled the Navajo Meridian and the surveys based on it in the State of New Mexico
NATIONAL RESERVE – A reservation for naval purposes
NAVIGABILITY, LEGAL CONCEPT OF – The doctrine laid down by the Supreme Court in The Daniel Ball, 10 Wall. 557 (1871), to wit: "Those rivers must be regarded as public navigable rivers in law which are navigable in fact. And they are navigable in fact when they are used, or are susceptible of being used, in their ordinary condition, as highways for commerce, over which trade and travel are or may be conducted in the customary modes of trade or travel on water"
NAVIGABLE WATERS – Waters which afford a channel for useful commerce or travel. The beds of navigable bodies of water are not public domain and are not subject to survey and disposal by the United States. Under the laws of the United States the navigable waters have always been and shall forever remain common highways. This includes all tidewater streams and other important permanent bodies of water whose natural and normal condition as the date of the admission of a State into the Union was such as to classify the same as navigable water
NEAP TIDES – Tides of decreasing range occurring semimonthly as the result of the moon being in quadrature; that is, when the tidal forces of sun and moon act at right angles to each other on the waters of the earth. Tides during these periods do not rise as high or fall as low as during the rest of the month. See TIDE
NEW MEXICO PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in New Mexico and the southwestern part of Colorado; it was adopted in 1855
NONIUS – A scale featuring concentric circles used in determining angles. It was named for a Portugese mathematician and geographer, Nunez (1492-1577). Later, the nonius was replaced by the vernier scale (named for Dutch mathematician Peter Werner who, in his writings, used the name "Pierre Vernier"). As late as 1879, in Germany, a vernier was called a nonius
NONNATIVE TOWNSITES, ALASKA – The entry of public lands in Alaska for townsite purposes, by such trustee or trustees as may be named by the Secretary of the Interior for that purpose, is authorized by section 11 of the act of March 3, 1891
NONRESPONSIVE BIDS – Contract bids not conforming to the substance of the bid invitation are non responsive and may not be considered for award. The substance of the invitation includes the terms, conditions and specifications which affect price, quality, quantity and delivery terms
NON RIPARIAN BROKEN BOUNDARY – A colloquial term which refers to the meander lines along a water boundary. The water is the actual (riparian) boundary and the meander line is the representative (nonriparian) boundary
NON RIPARIAN BROKEN BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT – 1) A mathematical solution for restoring or determining the position of angle points of record courses by applying a correction to each record course based proportionately upon the length of the course. 2) The method generally used to mathematically close (balance) a figure in order to determine area. 3) May be referred to as the "Compass Rule." See NON RIPARIAN BROKEN BOUNDARY, BROKEN BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT, COMPASS RULE, and ADJUSTMENT
NON RIPARIAN MEANDER LINE – Any meander line which is surveyed as a fixed boundary or is reestablished as a fixed boundary. See FIXED BOUNDARY
NORTHWEST ORDINANCE (1787) – An ordinance enacted by the Congress of the Confederation to provide for government of the Old Northwest Territory (Territory northwest of the Ohio River), and for the formation and admission of new states. The provisions were reenacted on Aug. 7, 1789 following the adoption of the Constitution. See TERRITORY NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO RIVER
NORTHWEST TERRITORY – See TERRITORY NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO RIVER
NOTCHES – V-shaped indentations cut upon the exposed vertical edges of a stone monument where the vertical edges of the stone have been turned to the cardinal

O

O – Ohio
O (Land Status Records) – Order
OAS – Office of Aircraft Services
OCS – Outer Continental Shelf
O&C (Land Status Records) – Oregon and California (revested lands)
OE (Land Status Records) – Open to Entry
OG (Land Status Records) – Oil and gas
OK – Oklahoma
OKLA. – Oklahoma
OP. CIT. SUPRA – An abbreviation for opus citum supra meaning "in the work cited above." Used to avoid repeating a full citation when referring to a book previously cited. Sometimes Op. Cit. See SUPRA and INFRA
OPER (Land Status Records) – Operation
OR - Oregon
ORE. – Oregon
OS (Land Status Records) - Oil Shale
OBITER DICTUM – Also called "dictum." That which is said in passing. Where the court, in rationalizing its position, uses language broader than is needed for disposition of the point at issue. If the court’s statement is merely illustrative or background material not required in the determination of the issues presented, it is within the category of obiter dictum. Dictum lacks the force of an adjudication and does not fall within the doctrine of stare decisis. See STARE DECISIS and ADJUDICATION
OBLIQUE MERCATOR PROJECTION – A map plotting system in which points on the ellipsoid are mathematically projected onto a cylinder oriented tangent to an oblique line at the map center; used in one of the Alaska State Plane Coordinates systems
OBLITERATED CORNER – An obliterated corner is one at whose point there are no remaining traces of the monument, or its accessories, but whose location has been perpetuated, or the point for which may be recovered beyond reasonable doubt, but the acts and testimony of the interested landowners, competent surveyors, or other qualified local authorities, or witnesses, or by some acceptable record evidence
OCCUPY – 1) To set a surveying instrument over a point for the purpose of making observations. 2) To take or enter upon possession of land
O & C EXCHANGE – An exchange, by the Federal Government, of revested Oregon and California Railroad Co. or reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road lands for other lands. See O&C LANDS
O & C HOMESTEAD ENTRY – An entry, not exceeding 160 acres, on revested Oregon and California Railroad Co. lands which are agricultural in character
O & C LANDS – Public lands in western Oregon which were granted to the Oregon Central railroad companies (later the Oregon and California Railroad Co.) to aid in the construction of railroads, but which were later forfeited and returned to the Federal Government by Congressional revestment of title. The term "O and C Lands" is often used to include Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands, which were reconveyed, not revested, lands. See OREGON AND CALIFORNIA REVESTED LANDS ADMINISTRATION and COOS BAY WAGON ROAD LANDS
O.C.S. OFFICIAL PROTRACTION DIAGRAM – A drawing showing approved subdivisions of the Outer Continental shelf, usually for leasing purposes
OFFICIAL CADASTRAL SURVEY – The public lands are deemed to be surveyed when the survey has been accepted and the plat thereof has been filed in the appropriate land office by direction of the Bureau of Land Management. No subdivisions of the public lands may be conveyed or in any way disposed of until so identified. See ACCEPTED SURVEY
OFFICIAL RETURNS – The Field Notes and Plats of an official cadastral survey accepted and approved by the proper authority
OFFICIAL SURVEY – A public land survey which has the field notes approved, the plat accepted, and has been filed in the proper BLM land office after publication in the Federal Register, if necessary. See ACCEPTED SURVEY, APPROVED SURVEY and MINERAL SURVEY
OFF-LINE CLOSING CORNER – A closing corner monument that was not actually located on the line that was closed upon. Such a monument controls the direction of the closing line, but is not its legal terminus
OFFSET – 1) Moving over to a parallel line in order to avoid an obstacle. 2) A process in the running of a parallel of latitude by means of a straight line with measured (offset) distances to the curve
OMITTED LANDS – Lands that were in place at the time of survey but are not shown on the original township plat, and which are so situated as to have been excluded from the survey by some gross discrepancy in the location of a meander line as given by the field-note record. This term is not applicable to areas where changes can be traced to erosion, accretion or changes in the water level subsequent to survey. See OMITTED LAND SURVEY
OMITTED LAND SURVEY – The survey of substantial areas of lands fronting surveyed meanders of rivers or lakes, which after investigation are known to have been omitted from the original survey through gross error or fraud
ONE-EIGHT (1/8) CORNER – A one-sixteenth (1/16) section corner. The designation "1/8 corner" was used in some of the older subdivision-of-section surveys
ONE THIRTYSECOND (1/32) CORNER – A one-sixtyfourth (1/64) section corner. The designation "1/32 corner" was used in some of the older subdivision-of-section surveys, especially the 20 acre Indian Allotment surveys
OPUS CITUM SUPRA – In the work cited above. Usually abbreviated "op. cit. supra" or "op. cit."
ORDINAL NUMBER – A number designating the place (as first, second, third) occupied by an item in an ordered sequence. There are six principal meridians named ordinal numbers, beginning with the First Principal Meridian
ORDINANCE OF MAY 20, 1785 – The first land ordinance, it was entitled "An Ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the western territory." It was adopted by the Continental Congress on May 20, 1785. Under its terms the rectangular system of surveys was inaugurated. Six-mile square townships extended north from the Ohio River and were numbered south to north. Ranges were numbered east to west. Sections (called lots) were numbered from 1 to 36 from south to north in each range with number 1 in the southeast corner. Also included was the provision that, in each township, section 16 would be set aside for the maintenance of public schools. See SEVEN RANGES, THE; GEOGRAPHER'S LINE, THE
ORDINARY HIGH WATER – When used in reference to tidal waters, synonymous with mean high water. When referring to inland streams and lakes it is the same as mean high-water. See HIGH-WATER MARK and MEAN HIGH WATER
OREGON AND CALIFORNIA REVESTED LANDS ADMINISTRATION – A branch of the General Land Office which was charged with the administration of the O & C and Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands. See O & C LANDS and COOS BAY WAGON ROAD LANDS
OREGON TERRITORY CESSION – Under the terms of the Oregon Compromise, in 1846, the territory now occupied by the States of Idaho, Oregon and Washington and parts of Montana and Wyoming was ceded to the United States by Great Britain. This cession provided the United States with more than 183 million additional acres of public lands
ORGANIZED MINING DISTRICT – A section of the country usually designated by name and described or understood as being confined within certain natural boundaries, in which the precious metals (or their ores) are found in paying quantities, and which is worked therefore, under rules and regulations prescribed or agreed upon by the miners therein. See MINERAL DISTRICT and UNORGANIZED MINING DISTRICT
ORIGINAL ENTRY – When application to acquire title to public lands and the applicant is permitted to proceed with earning title to the land under the governing laws and regulations. See ENTRY, FINAL ENTRY, CASH ENTRY
ORIGINAL PUBLIC DOMAIN ACQUISITIONS – All the lands, regardless of whether they are still Federal ownership or not, which the Federal Government obtained by cession from the 13 Original States (1789-1802), by the Louisiana Purchase (1803), by the cession from Spain (1819), by the occupation of the Oregon Territory (1846), by the Mexican Cession (1848), by the purchase from Texas (1850), by the Gadsden Treaty (1853), and by the purchase of Alaska (1867). The drainage basin of the Red River of the North, south of the 49th parallel and west of the cessions by the 13 Original States, is a part of the original public domain. Authorities differ as to the method and to the exact date of its acquisition by the United States, some holding that it was part of the Louisiana Purchase. The area included within the present boundaries of the State of Tennessee, although included in the cessions of the 13 Original States, is usually not considered a part of the original public domain because, by the terms of its cession, the State of North Carolina passed title to only a small acreage in that area to the United States. The United States in turn ceded its unappropriated lands to the State of Tennessee. The submerged lands granted to the states under Public Law 31 (the Submerged Lands Act) have been held to be a part of the original public domain (U.S. Supreme Court decision of Mar. 15, 1954). See PUBLIC DOMAIN, PUBLIC LANDS and PUBLIC LAND STATES.
ORIGINAL SURVEY – A cadastral survey which creates land boundaries and marks them for the first time.
OUT – a measurement term used in some field notes and deeds in the early 1800’s, it is the equivalent of 5 chains. Tiffin’s 1815 instructions called for the use of “a two pole chain of 50 links,” so when the chainman was “out” of chaining pins he had covered a distance of 5 chains. See POLE AND OUTKEEPER.
OUTBOUNDARES – The township and range lines around the perimeter of a survey area, particularly the controlling lines around the perimeter of an independent survey.
OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF – That portion of the continental shelf seaward of state boundaries as defined in the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C.A., sec. 1301 et seq.). It is spoken of, generally, as that part of the continental shelf beyond the “three mile limit.” It extends from there to the continental talus, a depth of approximately 100 fathoms. See CONTINENTAL SHELF, CONTINENTAL TALUS, SUBMERGED LANDS ACT and OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT.
OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT – Also known as Public Law 212. An act passed during the 1st session of the 83rd Congress and signed into law Aug. 7, 1953. It provides for the jurisdiction, control and administration by the United States over the submerged lands seaward of the state’s boundaries as defined in the Submerged Lands Act (Public Law 31); that is over the outer continental shelf. Senate Report 411, regarding this act, made it clear that the outer edge of the shelf is the point where the continental slope leading to the true ocean bottom begins and that this point is generally regarded as the depth of approximately 100 fathoms. At the 1958 Geneva Conference, the Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf adopted the 100-fathom depth curve as a minimum limit and beyond that if exploitation is feasible. See CONTINENTAL SHELF, SUBMERGED LANDS ACT, CONTINENTAL TALUS and OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.
OUTKEEPER – On older style surveyor’s compasses, a scale numbered 1 to 16, with a pointer that was turned by a milled knob to keep track of the “Outs” ; 8 Outs equal 40 chains; 16 Outs equal 80 chains. See OUT.
OUTLINES – An obsolete term sometimes used in older manuals of surveying instruction to refer to township boundaries.
OUT OF LIMITS – Exceeds linear and/or angular limits as set forth in the Manual of Surveying Instructions. Also, outside rectangular limits. See RECTANGULAR LIMITS.
OVERFLOWED LANDS – Lands which are annually or periodically subject to natural flooding during the normal planting, growing or harvesting seasons of a region to such an extent that they are rendered wet and unfit for the cultivation of the staple crops of that region, unless artificially drained or protected. See SWAMP, SWAMP AND OVERFLOWED LANDS and SWAMP LANDS ACTS.
OVERLAP – Lands surveyed in conflict. A common area included in separate surveys. That portion of area which one survey extends over and covers a part of a different survey as is shown by the evidence on the ground.
OVERGROWTH – The growth of a tree as it heals over survey markings. See BARK SCRIBE.
OVERLAPPING SURVEYS – Surveys of adjacent sections or tracts which do not fit properly together, causing conflicts in boundaries.
OVERSHOT – The distance the surveyor must offset a line to close it on a designated corner.
OVERRIDE – The replacing of lower order control points with higher order ones to achieve more accurate survey results.
OVERSET – A term used to denote the failure of a surveyor to close the interior angles of a traverse accurately.
OWNERSHIP AND ENCUMBRANCE REPORTS – Reports given to companies and individuals who may be considering purchasing public lands, containing the current status of the tract of land being considered and, where necessary, the conditions under which it is occupied.
OYSTER – A popular name applied to a group of mollusks which are characterized by a strong, bivalve shell, a muscular foot, and gills. Also, the shell of any of these mollusks. Of the many varieties of oysters known, the eastern oyster is most important commercially.

P

PA – Pennsylvania.
PAR (Land Status Records) – Parcel.
PART (Land Status Records) – Partially.
PAT (Land Status Records) – Patent.
PC – Point of curve.
PCC – Point of Compound Curve.
PCS – Point of Curve to Spiral.
PD (Land Status Records) – Public Domain.
PE – Professional Engineer.
PE and LS – Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor.
PER (Land Status Records) – Permit.
PET RES (Land Status Records) – Petroleum Reserve.
PHO (Land Status Records) – Phosphate.
PITS AND MOUNDS – A system of witnessing public land survey corner stakes in prairie country.
PITTMAN ACT ENTRY – An entry of public lands in Nevada made by an individual or association of individuals who earned the right to acquire title to the lands through discovery of underground sources of water.
PITTMAN UNDERGROUND WATER ACT – The Act of October 22, 1919, under the terms of which an entry of public lands in Nevada could be made by an individual or association of individuals who earned the right to acquire title to a portion of the public lands through discovery of underground water sources.
PLACE LANDS – Lands granted in aid of a railroad company which are within certain limits on each side of the road, and which became instantly fixed by the adoption of the centerline of the railroad. See INDEMNITY LANDS, GRANT IN PLACE and QUANTITY GRANT.
PLACER – An alluvial or glacial deposit containing particles of valuable minerals. See PLACER CLAIM, PLACER LOCATION, MINERAL SURVEY, LODE, and VEIN.
PLACER ACT OF 1870 – Under this act, placer claims included "all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or other rock in place." It did not restrict placer claims to valuable deposits, probably due to an oversight. There was no provision for the reservation of known lodes within placer patents. Placer locations were limited to not more than 160 acres for any person or association of persons, though patents for additional acreages could be issued where adjoining claims had been purchased by the locator. See MINING ACT OF 1866, MINING LAW OF 1872 and PLACER LAW OF 1897.
PLACER CLAIM – A mining claim located on the public domain for the purpose of placer mining. Under U.S. mining laws, mineral deposits not veins or lodes in place, are treated as placers so far as locating, holding, surveying, and patenting are concerned. Revised Statutes, sec. 2331 (30 U.S.C., sec. 35) provides that all placer-mining claims located after May 10, 1872, shall conform as nearly as practicable with the United States system of public land surveys and the rectangular subdivision of such surveys, and such locations shall not include more than 20 acres for each individual claimant (43 C.F.R. 3842.1-2(b)).
PLACER LAW OF 1897 – This law provided that petroleum lands might be entered and patented under the placer mining laws and led, eventually, to the leasing of public lands valuable for minerals.
PLACER LOCATION – A placer claim located and occupied on the public domain.
PLAINTIFF – A person who brings an action; the party who complains or sues in a personal action and is so named on the record. See DEFENDANT.
PLANE COORDINATES – In general, coordinates specifying the location of points on a plane. In surveying use, the "plane" is usually a projection of the earth's surface such as a developed cone or cylinder.
PLAT – As used technically by the BLM, the drawing which represents the particular area included in a survey, such as a township, private land claim or mineral claim, and the lines surveyed, established, retraced or resurveyed, showing the direction and length of each such line; the relation to the adjoining official surveys; the boundaries, descriptions, and area of each parcel of land subdivided; and, as nearly as may be practicable, a representation of the relief and improvements within the limits of the survey. See BASE PLAT, SUPPLEMENTAL PLAT, MASTER TITLE PLAT, USE PLAT, STATUS DIAGRAM and APPROVED SURVEY.
POCKET PARTS – Revisions prepared for bound law books to keep them current. The name comes from the fact that these supplements, usually in pamphlet form, are stored in a pocket inside the back cover of the volume undated.
PROTECT THE PLAT – The responsibility of the surveyor to examine, weigh and interpret the available evidence in respect to the execution of a resurvey, looking to the protection of the valid rights acquired under the original survey as shown by the plat. The bona fide rights of claimants are protected under the Constitution and the Act of March 3, 1909 as amended by the Act of June 25, 1910, and by provisions under the Act of September 21, 1918. See INTERPRETATION OF PLAT.
PROTEST – A formal statement of objection, dissent, or disapproval in regard to some act about to be done or already performed, such as an objection to an application, entry, claim, etc.
PROTRACTION – The word means extension; prolongation. An example of its use would be the representation on paper of the fractional lots in the north and west tiers of sections within a township. These lines are not monumented on the ground. They are shown on the plat as protractions (dashed lines) indicating that they were not run in the field. The distances given are parenthetical until they are actually surveyed. See PROTRACTION DIAGRAM.
PROTRACTION DIAGRAM – It is prepared for the purpose of describing unsurveyed land areas. The diagram is approved for the Director by the Chief, Division of Cadastral Survey, and filed in the respective state offices of the BLM – after public notice in the Federal Register.
PRUDENT MAN TEST – Also called "prudent man rule." In determining whether or not a mineral deposit is "valuable" under the meaning of the law, discovered deposits must be of such a character that a person of ordinary prudence would be justified in the expenditure of his labor and means, with a reasonable prospect of success, in developing a paying mine. See MARKETABILITY TEST.
PUBLIC DOMAIN – The term applied to any or all of those areas of land ceded to the Federal Government by the Original States and to such other lands as were later acquired by treaty, purchase or cession, and are disposed of only under the authority of Congress. See ORIGINAL PUBLIC DOMAIN ACQUISITIONS, PUBLIC LANDS, PUBLIC LAND STATES and FEDERAL LAND.
PUBLIC-LAND LAWS – The laws which have been passed by the Congress concerning the administration of the public lands and the resources thereon.
PUBLIC LAND ORDER – An order effecting, modifying or canceling a withdrawal or reservation. Such an order is issued by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to powers delegated to the Secretary by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, Sec. 204 (a) PL94-579, dated Oct. 21, 1976. (90 stat. 2751).
PUBLIC LANDS – (1) The term “public lands” means any land and interest in land owned by the United States within the several States and administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management, without regard to how the United States acquired ownership, except – (a) lands located on the Outer Continental Shelf; and (b) lands held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos. Sec. 103(e) 43 U.S.C. 1702. (2) Includes a) the remaining public domain of the United States, b) reservations, other than Indian reservations, created from the public domain, c) lands withdrawn, reserved or withheld from private appropriation and disposal under the public land laws, including the mining laws, d) outstanding interests of the United States in lands which have been patented or otherwise conveyed under the public land laws, e) National Forests, f) wildlife refuges and ranges, and g) the surface and subsurface resources of all such lands. See ORIGINAL PUBLIC DOMAIN ACQUISITIONS, PUBLIC DOMAIN, PUBLIC LAND STATES and FEDERAL LAND.
PUBLIC LAND STATES – Those states created out of the public domain of the United States. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
PUBLIC LAW 31 (MAY 22, 1953 ) – See SUBMERGED LANDS ACT.
PUBLIC LAW 167 – (July 23, 1955, 69 Stat. 357). Provides for multiple use of mining claims, and for a procedure where the Government may determine that it has the right to manage surface resources not required for mining purposes.
PUBLIC LAW 212 (August 7, 1953) – See OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT.
PUBLIC LAW 359 – (Aug. 11, 1955, 69 Stat. 681). Provides for the location of mining claims on lands reserved or withdrawn for power or powersite purposes.

Q

QCD (Land Status Records) – Quitclaim deed.
QS (Land Status Records) – Quicksilver.
QUADRANGLE MAP – A map of a four sided figure bounded by parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. See STANDARD QUADRANGLE MAP* and MAP SERIES*.
QUALIFIED (as a witness) – Persons who are accepted by the court as being professionally skilled and knowledgeable in a particular field of study or science, as surveying. See WITNESS and EXPERT.
QUANTITY GRANT – A grant in connection with which the Congress specifies only the number of acres or the general type of public lands which are granted and which the grantee will secure by making selections from available public lands. See GRANT IN PLACE, INDEMNITY LANDS and PLACE LANDS.
QUARTER-QUARTER SECTION CORNER – See SIXTEENTH SECTION CORNER.
QUARTER-SECTION CORNER – A corner at an extremity of a boundary of a quarter section. Written as 1/4 section corner, not as one fourth section corner.
QUARTER SECTION – One-fourth of a section, containing 160 acres more or less. See SECTION, QUARTER.
QUASI – As if. Almost as if it were. Seen often in terms such as "quasi-legal" or "quasi-judicial."
QUIET TITLE – In the legal proceeding called "action to quiet title," the word "quiet" means to pacify; to render secure or unassailable by the removal of unsettling causes or disputes. Under this proceeding, the plaintiff’s title to land is established by bringing into court an adverse claimant and there compelling him either to establish his claim or be forever estopped from asserting it. See ESTOPPEL.
QUITCLAIM DEED – A deed in the nature of a release containing words of conveyance as well as release. It conveys any interest the maker may have in the property described without any representations or liability of any kind as to title conveyed or encumbrances that may exist thereon. A patent from the Government is a quitclaim deed.
Q.V. – An abbreviation of "quod vide," used to refer a reader to the word, chapter etc., the name of which it immediately follows. Quod vide means which see.

R

R (Land Status Records) – Range.
RB (Land Status Records) – River Basin.
RCPL (Land Status Records) - Reciprocal.
RD (Land Status Records) – Road.
RDS (Land Status Records) – Reservoir declaratory statement.
re (Land Status Records) – Reference.
RE-CL (Land Status Records) – Reclassified.
REC LSE (Land Status Records) – Recreation lease.
RECL WDL (Land Status Records) – Reclamation withdrawal.
RECON (Land Status Records) – Reconveyed.
RECON. – Reconnaisance*.
REC & PP – Recreation and Public Purposes.
REG (Land Status Records) – Regional.
REJ (Land Status Records) – Rejected and rejection.
REL (Land Status Records) – Relinquished or Relinquishment.
RES (Land Status Records) – Reservation or Reserve.
RESC (Land Status Records) – Rescind, Rescinded.
REST (Land Status Records) – Restoration or Restored.
RESVR (Land Status Records) – Reservoir.
REV (Land Status Records) – Revocation or Revoked.
RF – Representative Fraction.
RFG (Land Status Records) – Refuge.
RGR STA (Land Status Records) – Ranger Station.
RHE (Land Status Records) – Reclamation homestead entry.
RI – Rhode Island.
RI (Land Status Records) – Range Improvement.
RIP – Branch of Records Improvement (Original name was "Records Improvement Project.") .
RMKS (Land Status Records) – Remarks.
R&PP (Land Status Records) – Recreation and Public Purposes.
R&R (Land Status Records) – Register and Receiver.
RR (Land Status Records) – Railroad.
RRG (Land Status Records) – Railroad Grant.
RRIS (Land Status Records) – Railroad indemnity selection.
RRLS (Land Status Records) – Railroad lieu selection.
RS – Registered Surveyor.
RS (Land Status Records) – Revised Statutes.
RSB (Land Status Records) – River sub-basin.
RSTD (Land Status Records) – Restricted.
RVST (Land Status Records) – Revested.
R/W (Land Status Records) – Right-of-way.
RY (Land Status Records) – Railway.
RAILROAD GRANT – Usually, title to railroad grant lands passed under patent conveyances. These grants were made to railroads to aid in their construction, and covered designated sections within specified grant limits. Prior to 1875, railroad right-of-way grants conveyed a hybrid type of interest in the public lands. Laws authorized each grant and set forth the limits of the grant and the lands granted. In determining these limits, and ascertaining the interests obtained under the various grants, legal advice may be required. See INDEMNITY LANDS; PLACE LANDS; RAILROAD GRANT, ADJUSTED OR UNADJUSTED; RAILROAD INDEMNITY SELECTION and RAILROAD LIEU SELECTION.
RAILROAD GRANT, ADJUSTED OR UNADJUSTED – If the legal processing (adjudication) was terminated, and the grantee received all the lands to which entitled or as much as it was possible to give under the terms of the grant, prior to the Transportation Act of 1940, it is termed an "adjusted" railroad grant. If the adjudication was not completed prior to that time, it is called an "unadjusted" railroad grant. See RELEASED RAILROAD CLAIM.
RAILROAD INDEMNITY SELECTION – A lieu selection, which is made by a railroad, based upon rights to railroad grant lands lost to the railroad within the primary limits, selection being made within the indemnity limits. See RAILROAD LIEU SELECTION.
RAILROAD LIEU SELECTION – A lieu selection, which is made by an applicant other than a railroad, based upon the relinquishment of rights to land within a railroad grant. See RAILROAD INDEMNITY SELECTION.
RAILROAD TOWN-SITE RESERVATION – A reservation, along a proposed or existing railroad line in Alaska, of public lands which are valuable or potentially valuable as a town site.
RANDOM LINE – a trial line run from one monument toward the next monument so that the difference in latitude and departure between monuments may be determined and the true line may be computed. On the trial line, temporary intermediate corners are set. Offsets may then be computed from the temporary corners to the correct positions on the true line. See TRUE LINE, RANDOM AND TRUE AND CORNER MOVE.
RANDOM AND TRUE – A survey method whereby a trail line is run to connect two monuments. With the data obtained while running the trial line, the true line is computed and rerun.
RANGE – A north-south tier of townships or sections. A range of townships is described by its relationship to the principle meridian.
RANGE LINE – A boundary of a township surveyed in a north-south direction. See TOWNSHIP LINE.
REACH (of a river) – A continuous unbroken portion of a river, particularly a straight stretch.
REACQUIRED LANDS – See ACQUIRED LANDS.
REAL ESTATE – An ownership interest in real property. In common usage it has come to mean the property itself. See REAL PROPERTY.
REAL PROPERTY – Land and generally whatever is erected upon, growing on or affixed to the land. See PROPERTY.
RECEIVER – An official in the Washington office of the General Land Office who was authorized to accept cash payments for the public lands and resources. Receivers could not be appointed until there was sufficient land surveyed to authorize the opening of land offices since they were assigned to land offices to perform their duties. All reference to Receivers was dropped following the Act of March 3, 1925, which provided for the consolidation of the offices of Receiver and Register. See REGISTER.
RECESSION OF WATER – A legal expression that is applied to the gradual, natural and more or less permanent lowering of the surface elevation of a lake, or its complete disappearance, when referred to what at one time has been regarded as the normal (as at the date of an established survey). See RELICTION.
RECLAMATION HOMESTEAD ENTRY - An entry initiated under the act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 338; 43 U.S.C., sec. 43 et seq.), which provides for the issuance of patents to entrymen who settle upon and improve agricultural public lands, not exceeding 160 acres in size, within reclamation projects.
RECLAMATION PROJECT – A water development project, for irrigation of arid lands and for other purposes, which is administered by the Bureau of Reclamation, United States Department of the Interior.
RECLAMATION STATES – The public-land States in which the Bureau of Reclamation is authorized to function, viz., Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
RECLAMATION TOWN LOT – A town lot of a town site which is within a reclamation project.
RECLAMATION WITHDRAWAL – A withdrawal of public lands in connection with a reclamation project. See FIRST FORM RECLAMATION WITHDRAWAL and SECOND FORM RECLAMATION WITHDRAWAL.
RECONSTRUCTED – The same as "rehabilitated." Used in section 215 of the 1930 Manual of Surveying Instructions as follows: " … such original corners, if not in a good state of preservation, will be reconstructed in first-class order …."
RECONVEYED LANDS – Lands once granted but later forfeited and returned to Federal ownership by reconveyance. See COOS BAY WAGON ROAD LANDS.
RECORD – 1) The approved field notes and plat of a survey. 2) A value of area, bearing or distance from the approved field notes. 3) The act of recording a document as in a county. 4) All of the documents pertaining to title and boundaries including status, group files, county surveyor information as well as field notes and plats, when used as "to search the record."
RECORDING – See REGISTERING.
RECREATIONAL ENTRY – A cash entry for public lands by a State, county, municipality, or other local governmental agency, or by a nonprofit organization, which are to be used for recreational purposes.
RECREATIONAL WITHDRAWAL – A reservation of public lands which have been designated as chiefly valuable for recreational purposes and as suitable for State exchange, recreation entry, or recreational lease pursuant to the act of June 14, 1926 (44 Stat. 741, 43 U.S.C. sec. 869).
RECTANGULAR COORDINATES – See PLANE COORDINATES and COORDINATE SYSTEM.
RECTANGULAR LIMITS – The amount by which a section, or its aliquot parts, may vary from the ideal section and still be considered regular. The rectangular limits are: a) For alinement, the section’s boundaries must not exceed 21’ from cardinal in any part, nor may the opposite (regular) boundaries of a section vary more than 21’. b) For measurement, the distance between regular corners must be within 25 links in 40 chains.
RECTANGULAR SYSTEM OF SURVEYS – A system inaugurated by the Continental Congress on May 20, 1785, for the survey of the public lands of the United States. Its distinguishing characteristic is that in the main, and in all cases where practicable, its units are in rectangular form.
RED BOOK, THE – Slang for Standard Field Tables and Trigonometric Formulas...
RED RIVER CASE – When oil was discovered in the Red River Valley...
RED RIVER OIL LANDS – Public lands, containing oil and gas, which are located...
REEF (T.R. No. 4) – A chain or range of rock or coral, elevated above...
REFERENCED – Bearings and distances from a monument to described or...
REFERENCE MONUMENT – An iron post or rock cap accessory used where...
REGIMEN – The condition of a stream and its channel with respect...
REGIONS (BLM) – From 1946 until the mid 1950’s, the direction of...
REGISTER – An official in the General Land Office who was...
REGISTERING (Deeds) – The main object of the registration or recording of...
REGRESS – The right to return to land. See EGRESS and...
REGULAR CORNER – Corners which are established or indicated by the survey...
REGULAR ORDER – The prescribed procedure and method of establishing the...
REGULAR SECTION – A section whose boundaries, as returned on the original...
REGULAR SECTION SUBDIVISION – The plan whereby a section is divided into...
REGULAR SUBDIVISION OF A SECTION – The aliquot parts. See ALIQUOT PARTS.
REGULAR TOWNSHIP – A township which is surveyed with four complete boundaries...
REGULATION IRON POST – See IRON POST.
REHABILITATION – The restoration of a corner monument or its accessories...
REIMBURSABLE SURVEY – A survey or resurvey authorized by law and made...
RELEASED RAILROAD CLAIMS – The lands any potential claim to which was relinquished...
RELICTION – The gradual and imperceptible recession of the water resulting...
RELICTION, ARTIFICIAL – A recession of the waters of a stream or...
RELOCATION – The legal appropriation of a claim previously staked and...
REMANDER – To establish new meanders along a riparian boundary...
REMEASUREMENT – A term applied to a survey made for the...
REMONUMENTATION – The construction of a corner monument (iron post, rock...
REMONUMENTATION PROGRAM – A cooperative effort to remonument survey corners which...
REMOTE UPLAND OWNER – One whose land is immediately upland from...
REPRESENTATIVE FRACTION – A fraction expressing scale in which the numerator...
RESERVATION – A withdrawal, usually of a permanent nature; also, any...
RESERVED LAND – Federal lands which are dedicated or set aside for...
RESERVOIR-SITE RESERVE – A reservation of public lands which have potential...
RESIDUAL ERROR – 1) The total error of closure of a...
RES JUDICATA – A matter settled by judgment. The rule of “res judicata” is...
RESOURCE AREA (BLM) – The primary subdivision of a BLM District. It is composed...
RESPONDENT – See APPELLEE.
RESTORATION – 1) The purpose of a resurvey; the recovery of one...
RESTORATION OF MEANDERS – The reestablishment of original meanders. See REMANDER.
RESTRICTED DEED, ALASKA – A deed which is issued to an Alaska Indian...
RESURVEY – A term applied to the reestablishment or restoration of land boundaries...
RETRACEMENT – A survey made to ascertain the direction and length of...
RETURNED – Areas and/or boundaries of the public lands which are described...
RETURNS – Official reports. In cadastral survey parlance, the “returns” are...
REVERSION CLAUSE – A clause in an order of withdrawal providing that...
REVESTED LANDS – Lands once granted and later forfeited and returned to...
REVISED STATUTES – A body of statutes which have been reviewed, re-examined, rearranged...
REVOCATION – Generally, an action which cancels a previous official act; specifically...
RHUMB LINE*
RIDGE TOP – The highest part of a range of hills or mountains; an elongated...
RIGHT BANK (River) – The bank on the right-hand side of a stream...
RIGHT LINE – An obsolete term for “True Line” or for a straight line...
RIGHT OF WAY – The legal right to cross the lands of another. Also...
RIPARIAN – From the Latin “ripa” meaning river bank.
RIPARIAN BOUNDARIES – Water boundaries, or boundaries formed by a river, lake or...
RIPARIAN LANDS – In strict interpretation, lands bordering on a river. The term...
RIPARIAN LAW – The branch of the law which deals with the rights in...
RIPARIAN OWNER – One who owns land having a boundary defined by...
RIPARIAN RIGHTS – The rights of an owner of land bordering on...
RIPARIAN RIGHTS ENTRY – An owner of contiguous land may be permitted to...
ROD – One rod equals 16.5 feet or 25 links. Also termed...
ROOD – A square measure equal to � acre or 40 sq...
RULE OF APPROXIMATION – A purely administrative expedient intended to equitably decide whether...
RULE OF THALWEG – In river boundaries, the rule which holds that where a...
RULE OF TIDEMARK – A baseline for determination of coastal boundaries which follows...
RULES OF PRACTICE – Certain orders made by the courts for the purpose of...
RUSSIAN MEASURES –...

S

S (Land Status Records) – South.
SAH (Land Status Records) – Soldier’s Additional Homestead.
SB MER (Land Status Records) – San Bernardino Meridian.
SC – South Carolina.
SCS (Land Status Records) – Subsistence Camp Site.
SCS (Land Status Records ) – United States Soil Conservation Service.
SD (Land Status Records) – State Director.
SD – South Dakota.
S. DAK. – South Dakota.
SDO (Land Status Records) – State Director’s Order.
SDS (Land Status Records) – Soldier’s declaratory statement.
SDW (Land Status Records) – Stock Driveway.
SDW WDL (Land Status Records) – Stock driveway withdrawal.
SE (Land Status Records) – Southeast.
SEC (Land Status Records) – Section.
SEC OF AGRI (Land Status Records) – Secretary of Agriculture.
SEC OF THE INT (Land Status Records) – Secretary of the Interior.
SEGR (Land Status Records) – Segregate or Segregated.
SEL (Land Status Records) – Selection or Selected.
SEW MER (Land Status Records) – Seward Meridian.
SG (Land Status Records) – State Grant.
SHC (Land Status Records) – Small Holding Claim.
SI (Land Status Records) – Silver.
SIM (Land Status Records) – Simultaneous.
SL MER (Land Status Records) – Salt lake meridian.
SLUP (Land Status Records) – Special Land Use Permit.
S&M (Land Status Records) – Soil and moisture.
SMC – Special Meander Corner.
SO – State Office.
SO (Land Status Records) – Secretary’s Order.
SOD (Land Status Records) – Sodium.
SPEC PER (Land Status Records) – Special permit.
SR (Land Status Records) – Serial Register.
SRHE (Land Status Records) – Stockraising Homestead Entry.
SS (Land Status Records) – State Selection.
SSE (Land Status Records) – Subsurface Estate.
ST (Land Status Records) – Small Tract.
STA (Land Status Records) – Station.
STAT. – Statutes. Used in citing a reference to the United States Statutes at large...
ST CL (Land Status Records) – Small tract classification.
ST HEL MER (Land Status Records) – St. Helena Meridian.
ST LSE (Land Status Records) – Small tract lease.
STS (Land Status Records ) – Small tract sale.
ST. STEP MER (Land Status Records) – St. Stephens Meridian.
SUBDIV UND (Land Status Records) – Subdivisions undefined.
SUBJ (Land Status Records) – Subject.
SUL (Land Status Records) – Sulphur.
SUPPL (Land Status Records) – Supplemental.
SUR (Land Status Records) – Survey or Surveyed.
SUS (Land Status Records) – Suspended.
SW (Land Status Records) – Southwest.
SX (Land Status Records) – State Exchange.
SALT LAKE MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in most of Utah...
SALT MARSH – An area of low lying, wet ground containing a high proportion...
SCALE FACTOR*.
SCHOOL LAND DEFICIENCY OR LOSS – Land included in a State school-land grant...
SCHOOL-LAND INDEMNITY SELECTION – A lieu selection made by a State to compensate...
SCHOOL LAND PATENT – A patent which is issued to a State to give it additional...
SCHOOL LANDS – Sometimes referred to as “school sections” they are the lands...
SCREE SLOPE – A steep slope formed of rocky material with a marked tendency...
SCRIBE – A hand tool used by surveyors to inscribe the prescribed markings on bearing trees.
SCRIP – A certificate which allows the owner to make a selection of a specified...
SEAL – In law, a particular sign, made to attest in the most formal manner...
SECANT – 1) A line that cuts a geometric curve or surface at two or more points...
SECANT METHOD – A method for laying off a parallel of latitude in Public Lands surveying.
SECOND FORM RECLAMATION WITHDRAWAL – A reclamation withdrawal which embraces public lands...
SECOND PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – The principal meridian which governs surveys in most of Indiana...
SECTION – The unit of subdivision of a township with boundaries conforming to the...
SECTIONAL CORRECTION LINE – A latitudinal section line run to rectify a defective latitudinal...
SECTIONAL GUIDE MERIDIAN – A meridional section line run to rectify a defective meridional...
SECTION CORNER – A corner at the extremity of a section boundary.
SECTION, HALF – Any two quarter sections within a section which have a common boundary...
SECTION, QUARTER – One of the aliquot parts of a section. Normally it is a quadrangle...
SECTION, QUARTER-QUARTER – One of the alquot parts of a quarter section. Normally it is a...
SEGREGATION SURVEY – Definition by running survey lines on the ground which separate...
SELECTION – In general, an application to acquire title to public lands which is...
SEMITANGENT – The distance from the point of curvature or point of tangency...
SENIOR CORNER – A point established and monumented by an approved prior survey.
SENIOR LINE – Survey lines created at different times have different standings...
SENIOR RIGHTS – The rights which take precedence. The first patent issued usually...
SENIOR SURVEY – The oldest of two or more surveys which fixed the position of the line...
SERIAL REGISTERS – Serial registers were instituted in 1908 as a digest of land case records...
SETTLEMENT CLAIM – A claim to a right to make a homestead entry. Such claims are based...
SEVEN RANGES, THE – The first cadastral survey of the public lands of the United States...
SEWARD MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in southwestern Alaska...
SHAFT – In mining, an opening made at the surface and extending downward into the earth vertically...
SHORE – The land which is covered and uncovered by the rise and fall of the normal tide...
SHORELINE, OCEAN (T.R. No. 4) – The intersection of a specified plane of water with the shore or beach...
SHORE LINE, RIVER – The shore line is the line which is washed by the water wherever it covers...
SHORE, OCEAN – “This is the most important of the four zones, and extends from the low water...
SHORE SPACE LIMITATION – The limitation of 160 rods or 80 rods of shore space along navigable waters...
SHORE-SPACE RESERVE, ALASKA – A reservation of public lands along navigable and certain other waters...
SIC – Thus. Intentionally so written. Used after a word or passage to indicate that it is meant...
SIDE LINE – Applied to a strip of land such as a lot or other tract, it defines the boundaries of that tract...
SIGHT TREE – Same as Line Tree, or on older surveys, Station Tree.
SINGLE PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT – A method of proportioning measurement in the restoration...
SITE – A parcel of ground set apart for a specific use. The word itself does not necessarily imply...
SIXTEENTH-SECTION CORNER – Also termed “quarter-quarter section corner.”
SIXTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – The last of the principal meridians to be named an ordinal number...
SKEW MERCATOR – See OBLIQUE MERCATOR.
SLOPE CHAINED – In some of the older surveys the chaining (measuring) was done on the slope...
SLOPE CHAINING – The process of direct measurement of an inclined distance and vertical angle...
SMALLEST LEGAL SUBDIVISION – A quarter-quarter section or one lot.
SMALL-HOLDING CLAIM ENTRY – An entry in connection with which the entryman and his predecessors...
SMALL TRACT – A parcel of public lands of 5 acres or less which has been found chiefly valuable...
SMALL TRACT ACT – The Act of June 1, 1938 (52 Stat. 609; 43 U.S.C. 682 a-c), as amended...
SMALL-TRACT CLASSIFICATION – Classification of public lands as being chiefly valuable...
SNOW BLAZE – In regions subject to heavy snowfall it is desirable survey practices to make...
SOLAR ATTACHMENT – An auxiliary device mounted on a surveyor’s instrument which mechanically...
SOLAR LINE – A line run along an astronomic bearing with a solar attachment. See TACK LINE.
SOLDIERS’ ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD ENTRY – A selection based on rights of Civil War veterans...
SPECIAL DEPOSIT SURVEY – A survey authorized by law, executed by BLM personnel but at no cost...
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS – The written statement containing the detailed specifications for every...
SPECIAL LAND USE PERMIT – A permit which authorizes the use of public lands for purposes not...
SPECIAL MEANDER CORNER – A corner established at: 1) The intersection of a surveyed...
SPECIAL SURVEY – A cadastral survey that involves unusual application of, or departure from...
SPECIAL SURVEYS, ALASKA – Metes and bounds surveys of areas settled upon or applied for under...
SPHERICAL COORDINATES - Pairs of angular values such as latitude and longitude or right ascension...
SPHEROID – In general, any figure differing but little from a sphere. In geodesy, a mathematical...
SQUATTER’S RIGHTS – An asserted right to occupy public lands by virtue of occupancy.
STANDARD – In cadastral survey slang, an ordinary steel pocket tape marked in chains or feet...
STANDARD CORNER – A senior corner on a standard parallel or base line.
STANDARD FIELD TABLES AND TRIGONOMETRIC FORMULAS – A supplement to the Manual of...
STANDARD PARALLEL – Also called “correction line.” A line extended east or west from the...
STANDARD PARALLEL, AUXILIARY – Where standard parallels have been placed at intervals...
STAPLE CROP – A chief commodity or production of a place. A crop used, needed or enjoyed by many...
STARE DECISIS – To abide by, or adhere to, decided cases. It is under the policy of “stare decisis”...
STATE COORDINATE SYSTEMS – The plane-rectangular coordinate systems established by the...
STATE DIRECTOR (BLM) – The principal Bureau official at the State level. He is directly accountable...
STATE EXCHANGE – An exchange between the Federal Government and a State. See EXCHANGE, PRIVATE...
STATE GRANTS – Grants of public lands were made to States for schools and other public purposes...
STATEHOOD – The Thirteen Original States organized the Federal Union under the name of “The United...
STATE PLANE COORDINATE SYSTEMS – The plane-rectangular coordinate systems established...
STATE SELECTION – An application to acquire title submitted by a state. See STATE SELECTION SURVEY.
STATE SELECTION LANDS, ALASKA – The enabling act admitting Alaska as a State provides that...
STATE SELECTION SURVEY – The survey providing limited monumentation of the township boundaries...
STATUTES AT LARGE – See UNITED STATES STATUTES AT LARGE.
ST. HELENA MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in the southeastern part of Louisiana...
STICK – A measurement term used in some field notes and deeds in the early 1800’s, a stick is 1/4 chain...
STOCKRAISING HOMESTEAD ENTRY
STONE BOUND
STOPE
STRADDLE STAKES
STRAIGHT BASE LINE
STREET
STREET LINE
STRIKE
STRONG BEARING
ST. STEPHENS MERIDIAN
SUBDIVISION
SUBDIVISION-OF-SECTION SURVEY
SUBDIVISION, SMALLEST LEGAL
SUBJECT TO SURVEY
SUBMERGED LANDS ACT
SUPPLEMENTAL MASTER TITLE PLAT
SUPPLEMENTAL PATENT
SUPPLEMENTAL PLAT
SUPRA
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
SURFACE RIGHTS
SURVEY
SURVEYING INSTRUCTIONS
SURVEYING, LAND
SURVEYOR GENERAL
SUSPENDED APPLICATION OR ENTRY
SUSPENDED SURVEY
SWAMP
SWAMP AND OVERFLOWED LANDS
SWAMP-LAND GRANT
SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1850
SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1860

T

T (Land Status Records) – Township.
TA (Land Status Records) – Tentative Approval.
TALL MER (Land Status Records) – Tallahasee Meridian.
TC (Land Status Records) – Timber culture.
TCP (Land Status Records) – Timber Cutting Permit.
TEL (Land Status Records) – Telephone.
TELEG (Land Status Records) – Telegraph.
TEMP (Land Status Records) – Temporary.
TERM (Land Status Records) – Terminate, Termination.
T&M (Land Status Records) – Trade and Manufacturing.
TMB (Land Status Records) – Timber.
T & M SITE – Trade and Manufacturing Site.
TN – Tennessee.
TNS (Land Status Records) – Townsite.
TP (Land Status Records) – Township.
TR (Land Status Records) – TRACT.
TRANS (Land Status Records) – Transmission.
TRF (Land Status Records ) – Transfer.
TRFD (Land Status Records) – Transferred.
TRF JURIS (Land Status Records) – Transfer of Jurisdiction.
TRI STA (Land Status Records) – Triangulation Station.
TRSP (Land Status Records) – Trespass.
T/S (Land Status Records) – Timber and Stone.
TS – Town site. The permanent monuments placed at each turning point of town-site boundary lines are marked not only with the usual subdivisional information, but also with the capital-letter initials of the town-site name followed by TS.
TX – Texas.
TACK LINE – A straight line projected from point (tack) to point as opposed to a solar line run along an astronomic bearing with a solar attachment.
TALLAHASSEE MERIDIAN – The principal meridian governing surveys in Florida and in a small part of Alabama; it was adopted in 1824.
TALLY – 1) Five chains as measured with a two pole chain. 2) A method of keeping track of count.
TALLY PIN – A chaining pin.
TALUS – A slope. Especially a steep slope formed by an accumulation of rock debris. See CONTINENTAL TALUS, SCREE SLOPE.
TALWEG – See THALWEG and RULE OF THALWEG.
TANGENT – 1) A straight line that touches a given curve at only one point and does not intersect it. 2) In the public lands surveys, a straight line, tangent to a parallel of latitude, usually at a township corner. 3) That part of a traverse of alinement included between the point of tangency (P.T.) of one curve and the point of curvature (P.C.) of the next curve. 4) A trigonometric function of an angle. See TANGENT SCREW*.
TAYLOR ACT EXCHANGE – An exchange consummated under the provisions of section 8 of the Taylor Grazing Act. See EXCHANGE, PRIVATE EXCHANGE and STATE EXCHANGE.
TAYLOR GRAZING ACT – Act of June 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 1269; 43 U.S.C. sec. 315), as amended. See GRAZING SERVICE.
TENEMENT – In its original, proper and legal sense, "tenement" signifies everything that may be held, if it is a permanent nature, whether it is corporeal or incorporeal. Though often applied to houses and other buildings or to lands, it is also applicable to offices, rents, franchises and so forth. See CORPOREAL, INCORPOREAL and HEREDITAMENT.
TERRITORY (methods of acquisition) – The United States has acquired territory principally by the following three methods: 1. by treaty 2. by joint resolution of the two houses of Congress 3. by statute.
TERRITORY – In American law, a portion of the United States, not within the limits of any state, which has not yet been admitted as a state of the Union, but is organized with a separate legislature, and with executive and judicial officers appointed by the president.
TERRITORY NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO RIVER – The Territory bounded on the west by the Mississippi River and a line running north from its source to the international boundary, on the north by the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions, on the east by the Pennsylvania and New York State lines, and on the south by the Ohio River. It was made up of claims of Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and comprised an area of approximately 278,000 square miles. From this territory the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin were formed. It also included that part of Minnesota which lies east of the Mississippi River and the northwest corner of Pennsylvania.
TESTIMONY – Evidence given by a competent witness, under oath or affirmation; as distinguished from evidence derived from writings and other sources. The words "testimony" and "evidence" are not synonymous. See EVIDENCE and WITNESS, EXPERT.
TEXAS ACCESSION – The Republic of Texas was admitted as a State in 1845, but retained title to all unoccupied lands. Thus, Texas was not a public-land State. Part of this territory was, however, purchased by the United States in 1850, and is now included in the States of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming. This purchase added approximately 75 million acres of public lands to the United States.
THALWEG - The "downway," meaning the course taken by boats going downstream in a river. The line following the lowest part of a valley, whether under water or not. The intricacy of detail in ordinary relief often makes difficult a practical location of a thalweg; in a survey of a political boundary line this difficulty may assume considerable weight. A thalweg may also be defined as the line down the center of the main channel of a stream or as the line of greatest slope, cutting all contours at right angles. See THREAD OF THE STREAM and RULE OF THALWEG.
THENCE – In surveying and in metes and bounds descriptions, the term designates that the course and distance given thereafter is a continuation from the course and distance given before.
THENCE DOWN THE RIVER – This phase, as used in a surveyor’s field notes, is construed to mean "with the meanders of the river."
THEODOLITE – A precision surveying instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles. The graduated circles are usually read by means of optical microscopes and are more precisely graduated than are the circles on a transit. See TRANSIT.
THEORETICAL CORNER*.
THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN – The principal meridian, adopted in 1805, which governs surveys in a large part of Illinois. It is abbreviated 3rd Prin. Mer.
THIRTEEN ORIGINAL COLONIES – See THIRTEEN ORIGINAL STATES.
THIRTEEN ORIGINAL STATES – The Thirteen Original Colonies, upon revolt from the British Crown, became sovereign, independent states. They are: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
THREAD OF THE STREAM – Though the courts do not always agree on definitions, the great weight of authority is to the effect that the thread of the stream is the center of the main channel thereof. If there are two prominent channels, the thread of the stream is the center of the channel used for navigation. See THALWEG and MEDIUM FILUM ACQUAE.
THROW – In mining, the vertical distance between the parts of a vein which have been separated by a fault, measured at right angles to the strike of the fault. A horizontal fault can have no throw, and a vertical fault can have no heave. See HEAVE.
TIDAL CURRENT – A horizontal movement of the water caused by gravitational interactions between the sun, moon and earth. See TIDE.
TIDAL DATUM – A reference for leveling defined by tidal phase observation and measurements. Mean sea level is usually used as the datum for elevations. Mean high water, mean low water and similar terms are tidal datums.
TIDE – The periodic rising and falling of the water that results from the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun acting upon the rotating earth. See TIDAL CURRENT.
TIDE, EBB – The movement of the tidal current away from the shore or down a tidal stream. The correct technical term is "Ebb Current."
TIDE, FLOOD – The movement of a tidal current toward the shore or up a tidal stream. The correct technical term is "Flood Current."
TIDELANDS – Coastal areas situated above mean low tide and below mean high tide, particularly the areas alternately covered and uncovered by the daily tides. As part of the bed of navigable waters, such lands belong to the states by right of sovereignty. Tidelands, including coastal "salt marshes," are not subject to survey. In contrast, coastal marshes not covered by daily tides are "swamp and overflowed lands" within the meaning of the various "Swamp Lands Acts," and are subject to survey. See NAVIGABLE WATERS, LOUISIANA SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1849, SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1850, SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1860 and SWAMP AND OVERFLOWED LANDS.
TIDE, NEAP – See NEAP TIDES.
TIE – A survey connection to an existing station or corner of the Public Lands from a point whose position is desired to be referenced.
TIE IN – 1) To make a connection to a previously determined point. 2) To connect corner accessories, topographic and cultural features to the survey.
TIE POINT – The point to which a survey connection is made.
TIER (United States public land surveys) – Any series of contiguous townships situated east and west of each other; also, sections similarly situated within a township.
TIMBER AND STONE ACT – An 1878 act which authorized the negotiated sale of public lands especially valuable for either timber or stone, and otherwise unfit for cultivation. The Timber and Stone Act was repealed in 1955.
TIMBER AND STONE ENTRY – An entry of public lands valuable for timber and stone made under laws now repealed. See TIMBER AND STONE ACT.
TIMBER CULTURE ACT – In 1873 Congress passed an act to encourage the growth of timber on the western prairies. It provided for the entry of public lands if the entryman planted and cultivated trees on a specified part of the land. The law was repealed in 1891.
TITLE – In real property law, title is a means whereby the owner of lands has the just possession of his property.
TITLE 43 – Refers to Title 43 (Public lands) of the United States Code (U.S.C.), or to Title 43 (Public Lands: Interior) of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.).
TOPOGRAPHY – Collective or individual features both natural and cultural, improvements, significant changes in character of land and relief which are tied to a point on the survey line or are intersected by it. See TOPOGRAPHY*.
TORRENS REGISTRATION SYSTEM – The basic principle of the system is the registration of the title to the land, instead of recording the evidence of such title.
TOWN LOT – A subdivision of a townsite or of an urban subdivision.
TOWN LOT ENTRY – A cash entry of a town lot within a townsite. See TOWNSITE.
TOWNSHIP – The unit of survey of the public lands; normally a quadrangle approximately 6 miles on a side with boundaries conforming to meridians and parallels within established limits, containing thirty-six sections, some of which are designed to correct for the convergence of meridians or range lines. See FRACTIONAL TOWNSHIP.
TOWNSHIP CORNER – A corner of a township. See CLOSING TOWNSHIP CORNER.
TOWNSHIP LINES – The township boundaries that run north and south are termed "range lines;" with few exceptions the range lines are run on cardinal and have been intended to be on cardinal. The boundaries running east and west are termed "township lines." By law, they were intended to be on true parallels of latitude.
TOWNSHIP PLAT – See PLAT.
TOWNSITE – An area of public lands which has been segregated for disposal as an urban development, often subdivided into blocks, which are further subdivided into town lots.
TOWNSITE ENTRY – A cash entry of a townsite.
TOWNSITE RESERVE – A reservation of public lands which have potential value as a townsite. See MUNICIPAL RESERVES.
TOWNSITE SURVEY – A survey of street and lot boundaries executed to segregate from the public lands an area qualifying under the townsite laws.
TRACT – Generally, a metes and bounds survey of an area at large within a township. In modern public land surveys the term is used specifically to mean a parcel of land that lies in more than one section or that cannot be identified completely as a part of a particular section. Tract numbers begin with the next higher number of the numerical designation within a township, for example: if there is an old numbers are sequential and no number is repeated within a township, for example; if there is an old Mineral Lot No. 37, the tract would be Tract No. 38. If a tract falls across a township line it is given a separate number in each township. See LOT.
TRACT BOOK – Starting about 1800, tract books designed primarily for the maintenance of permanent records of all transactions involving public domain lands were created and maintained in local land offices. Tract books were the companion records to the land office "status plat." Prior to the beginning of the records improvement program in 1955, these records constituted the records required in accordance with 43 C.F.R. 1813.1-1. Over the years, many of the tract books became worn and mutilated making status difficult to determine. To protect these books from further damage and to preserve the information they contain, these records are now microfilmed. As this is done, the tract books are transferred to the appropriate Federal records center as part of the National Archives. See LAND OFFICE STATUS PLAT, HISTORIC INDEX, MASTER TITLE PLAT and USE PLAT.
TRADE AND MANUFACTURING SITE (Alaska) – Section 10 of the Act of May 14, 1898, as amended August 23, 1958, authorizes, under its terms and provisions, the sale of not more than 80 acres of land in Alaska possessed and occupied in good faith as a trade and manufacturing site.
TRADE-AND-MANUFACTURING-SITE ENTRY – A cash entry of 80 acres or less in Alaska which are used as a trade or manufacturing site.
TRANSIT – A repeating surveying instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles. The graduated circles are usually not graduated as precisely as are those on a theodolite. See THEODOLITE.
TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 1940 – Act of September 18, 1940 (54 Stat. 954). See RELEASED RAILROAD CLAIMS.
TRANSVERSE MERCATOR MAP PROJECTION – A conformal map plotting system in which points on the ellipsoid are mathematically projected onto a cylinder whose axis is oriented 90° (transverse) to the axis of the ellipsoid. The cylinder surface may meet the ellipsoid at the map center or it may cut below the surface (secant) creating two parallels where the scale is exact. The secant form of this projection is the basis of State Plane Coordinate Systems where the zone extends north-south more than east-west.
TRAVERSE – In surveying, a sequence of lengths and directions of lines between points on the earth, obtained by field measurements and used to determine the positions of the points through use of trigonometric computations.
TREATY OF GHENT, 1814 – By the treaty of peace concluded at Ghent (Belgium) on December 24, 1814, it was agreed to provide for a final adjustment of the boundaries described in the Treaty of 1783 that had not yet been ascertained and determined, embracing certain islands in the Bay of Fundy and the whole of the boundary line from the source of the River St. Croix to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods.
TREATY OF GUADALUPE HILDAGO – The peace treaty signed Feb. 2, 1848, at the close of the Mexican War, and proclaimed July 4, 1848. See MEXICAN CESSION.
TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 1782 – The original limits of the United States were first definitely described in the provisional treaty concluded with Great Britain on November 30, 1782.
TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 1783 – The definite treaty of peace with Great Britain concluded on September 3, 1783, defines the boundaries of the United States in terms similar to those of the provisional treaty. The northern boundary became at once a fruitful source of dissension between the two countries. From the time of the conclusion of peace almost to the present day (1954) the definite location of this line has been subject to a series of treaties, commissions, and surveys.
TREATY WITH SPAIN, 1795 – The southern boundary of the United States was described in definite terms by the treaties with Great Britain of 1782 and 1783, but its location was not accepted by Spain and was disputed by that country until settled by the treaty concluded on October 27, 1795.

U

UA (Land Status Records) - Unit Agreement.
UINTAH SPEC MER (Land Status Records) - Uintah Special Meridian.
UNAPPROP (Land Status Records) - Unappropriated.
UNDET (Land Status Records) - Undermined.
UNDGD (Land Status Records) - Underground.
UNSUR (Land Status Records) - Unsurveyed.
UR (Land Status Records) - Uranium.
USAF (Land Status Records) - United States Air Force.
USC (Land Status Records) - United States Code.
U.S.C.A. - United States Code Annotated.
USC & GS - United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
USC SUPP - Supplement to U.S. Code.
USDA - United States Department of Agriculture.
USFS - United States Forest Service.
USGS (Land Status Records) - United States Geological Survey.
USLM - United States Location Monument.
USMM - United States Mineral Monument. The term was formerly used when a monument was established in connection with a mineral survey; it is seen in older field notes and on monuments established prior to its discontinuation, though the preferred term is now Location Monument. See LOCATION MONUMENT, USLM.
USMS - United States Mineral Survey.
USS (Land Status Records) - United States Survey.
U.S.ST. at L. - United States Statutes at Large. Also sometimes U.S. Stats.
UT - Utah.
UTE MER (Land Status Records) - Ute Meridian.
UTM - Universal Transverse Mercator.
UNAPPROPRIATED PUBLIC LANDS - See VACANT AND UNAPPROPRIATED PUBLIC DOMAIN LANDS.
UNAPPROVED SURVEY - A cadastral survey which has not, for whatever reason, reached the status of an accepted survey. See ACCEPTED SURVEY.
UINTAH SPECIAL MERIDIAN - The Uintah Meridian governs surveys in a small part of Utah. It was adopted in 1875.
UMIAT MERIDIAN - The principal meridian governing surveys in the northern part of Alaska. It was adopted in 1956.
UNITED STATES CODE - A compilation, under 50 subjects, or titles, of the general and permanent laws of the United States in force as of an indicated date. Most of the statutes governing the operations of the Bureau of Land Management appear in Title 43, "Public Lands," and title 30, "Mineral Lands and Mining." Many laws relating to Alaska are found in Title 48, "Territories and Insular Possessions."
UNITED STATES COURTS OF APPEALS - Sometimes U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. The middle level of the federal judicial hierarchy. There is one such court in each of the 11 judicial circuits into which the United States is divided. As the name indicates, the jurisdiction is exclusively appellate; they have no original jurisdiction. In cases where a court of appeals has held a State statute invalid because of repugnancy to the Constitution or a law or treaty of the United States, an appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court. In all other cases its decisions are final except as they may be reviewed by the Supreme Court at the latter’s discretion. See UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS and SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS - The lowest level of the federal judicial hierarchy, whose jurisdiction may include a whole state or only part of it. No "district" crosses state boundaries. These are the only Federal courts where juries are used. They have no appellate jurisdiction; District courts have original jurisdiction of civil cases at common law, in equity, in admiralty, in the enforcement of Acts of Congress and of all prosecutions for crime recognized under the authority of the United States. See UNITED STATES COURTS OF APPEALS and SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES LOCATION MONUMENT - When a U.S. Survey or a Mineral Survey is situated in an area where there are no corners of the public land surveys and no other monuments within two miles, a "location monument" is established for permanent reference of the surveys in that vicinity. Similar monuments were formerly designated United States Mineral Monuments.
UNITED STATES MINERAL MONUMENT - A term formerly used. See UNITED STATES LOCATION MONUMENT.
UNITED STATES STATUTES AT LARGE - Laws passed during each session of Congress are, at the end of the session, printed in a bound volume entitled United States Statutes at Large. The public laws and private laws are printed in separate sections. Within each section the laws are arranged chronologically by the date of their approval. When cited, the volume number should precede the abbreviation, Stat., and the page of the volume on which the statute appears should follow it. For example, 17 Stat. 91 is a citation to a statute which may be found on page 91 of Volume 17 of the Statutes at Large.
UNITED STATES SUPERVISOR OF SURVEYS - An officer in charge of the survey of the public lands from 1910 until 1946. See SURVEYOR GENERAL, CADASTRAL ENGINEERING STAFF OFFICER and CHIEF, DIVISION OF CADASTRAL SURVEYS.
UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION - A special case of the transverse Mercator projection. Abbreviated as the UTM grid, it consists of 60 north-south zones, each 6° wide in longitude.
UNORGANIZED MINING DISTRICT - Where land office forms, or other forms, have a space to indicate "Mining District" and there is, in fact, no organized mining district, the form is completed by writing the words, "unorganized mining district." See ORGANIZED MINING DISTRICT and MINERAL DISTRICT.
UNPERFECTED ENTRY - See ENTRY UNPERFECTED.
UNRECORDED DEED - A conveyance of title not registered or recorded according to state statutes.
UNRESERVED PUBLIC LANDS - Public lands which have not been withdrawn or reserved for general purposes. The public lands which are not affected by a general order of withdrawal, by a mineral withdrawal for classification, or by inclusion within a grazing district under the Taylor Grazing Act, are considered unreserved public lands since they are subject to classification and disposal.
UNSURVEYED LANDS - Lands not yet surveyed. Fractional section surveys, for example, leave unsurveyed land within a section. The land is known to exist, but the survey has either not yet been authorized or has not yet, for whatever reason, been completed. See COMPLETION SURVEY.
UPLANDS - 1) Land situated above ordinary high water. 2) Land situated above riparian land or land adjacent to riparian areas but remote from the body of water and having no riparian rights. See ORDINARY HIGH WATER.
URBAN DISTRICTS - Thickly settled areas (whether in cities or suburbs) or areas where congested traffic often occurs. A highway, even though in the country, on which the traffic is often very heavy, is considered to be urban.
URBAN SUBDIVISION - A division of property into two or more parcels, usually with street dedications, performed and recorded by a surveyor according to state law and local regulations.
USE PLAT - A copy of the master title plat and any supplemental master title plats of a township. Use plats show, in addition to the status shown on the master title plat, information concerning use of the lands, such as applications, leases and permits. See MASTER TITLE PLAT and SUPPLEMENTAL MASTER TITLE PLAT.
U.S. SURVEY - A metes and bounds survey executed to comply with one of various regulations for entry of Public Lands.
USQUE AD FILUM AQUAE (OR VIAE) - Up to the middle of the stream (or road).
UTE MERIDIAN - The principal meridian governing surveys in a small area in Colorado; it was adopted in 1880.

V

V (Land Status Records) - Village.
VA - Virginia. See Virginia Land Surveyors.
VAR INT (Land Status Records) - Variable Interest.
VAR. - Variation.
VIZ - A contraction for videlicet, to-wit, namely, that is to say.
vs. - Versus. Also, occasionally, abbreviated v.
VT - Vermont. See Vermont Land Surveyors.
VACANT AND UNAPPROPRIATED PUBLIC DOMAIN LANDS - Public domain lands which have never left Federal ownership and have not been reserved, withdrawn, dedicated or set aside for a specific purpose. These lands, some 450 million acres, are mostly in the 11 Western States and Alaska. The vacant and unappropriated public domain is administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
VALUABLE MINERAL - See MINERAL, VALUABLE.
VARA - A Spanish unit of measurement of various lengths.
VARIATION - See MAGNETIC VARIATION.
VEIN - In mining law, a continuous body of mineral or mineralized rock, filling a seam or fissure in the earth’s crust, within defined boundaries in the general mass of the mountain (boundaries which clearly separate it from the neighboring rock), and having a general character of continuity in the direction of its length. A requirement that a miner shall locate his claim "along the vein" means along the out-crop or course of the apex and not along the strike. "Lode," "ledge" and "vein" are synonymous in mining law as well as in common usage.
VEIN, DISCOVERY - In mining law, that vein which served as a basis of the discovery and location of a mining claim.
VERSUS - A Latin word meaning against. In the title of a cause of action, the name of the plaintiff is put first, followed by the word "versus," then the defendant’s name. The word is commonly abbreviated "vs." or "v."
VIS FLUMINIS - In the civil law, the force of a river; the force exerted by a stream or current; water power.

W

W (Land Status Records) - West.
WA - Washington.
WAA (Land Status Records) - War Assets Administration.
WAR DEPT (Land Status Records) - War Department.
WASH. - Washington. See Washington Land Surveyors.
WASH MER (Land Status Records) - Washington Meridian.
WC - Witness Corner.
W/CHG (Land Status Records ) - With Change(s).
WCMC - Witness Corner Meander Corner. WC is the abbreviation for Witness Corner when used alone or, as in this case, with another abbreviation; however, in the field notes or in simply talking about it, a surveyor would say, "Witness Meander Corner," not "Witness Corner Meander Corner."
WD (Land Status Records) - Warranty deed.
WDL (Land Status Records) - Withdrawal.
WDN (Land Status Records) - Withdrawn.
WFO - Western Field Office. Established in Portland, Oregon in 1973. See SPECIAL OFFICES (BLM).
WI - Wisconsin. See Wisconsin Land Surveyors.
WILL MER (Land Status Records) - Williamette Meridian.
WIS. - Wisconsin. See Wisconsin Land Surveyors.
W/O (Land Status Records) - Without.
WO - Washington Office.
WP (Land Status Records) - Water Power.
W P - Witness Point.
W.P.C. - Witness private claim. Used in the specimen field notes in the General Instructions of 1855.
WP DES (Land Status Records) - Water Power Designation.
WR (Land Status Records) - Water rights.
WR MER (Land Status Records) - Wind River Meridian.
WS (Land Status Records) - Watershed.
WT (Land Status Records) - Warrant.
WV - West Virginia. See West Virginia Land Surveyors.
WY - Wyoming. See Wyoming Land Surveyors.
WYO - Wyoming. See Wyoming Land Surveyors.
WAGON ROAD GRANT - A grant of public lands made to a State to aid in the construction of military wagon roads.
WARRANTY - A promise that a statement is true. In conveyancing, a warranty deed conveys fee title (to the land described) to the grantee and in addition guarantees the grantor will make good the title if it is found wanting. See DEED, BARGAIN AND SALE and PATENT.
WASHINGTON MERIDAN - 1) The Act of September 28, 1850 (9 Stat. 515), provided for the adoption of the meridian of the observatory at Washington, which passes through the old Naval Observatory at 24th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., as the American Meridian for all astronomic purposes. The meridian of Greenwich was, under this act, adopted for all nautical purposes. The act was repealed August 22, 1912 (37 Stat. 342). During the nearly 62 years the act was in force, the meridional boundaries of the Territories and States of Arizona, Colorado, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming and the States of Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah were referred to the Washington Meridian, which is 77°03’02”.3 west of Greenwich, according to Geological Survey Bulletin 1212. Aaron L. Shalowitz, LL.M., Coast and Geodetic Survey, says it is 77°03’06”.276. 2) The principal meridian, adopted in 1803, which governs surveys in the southwestern part of Mississippi is also named the Washington Meridian.
WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES - All waters within the United States which are navigable for the purpose of commerce, or whose navigation successfully aids commerce.
WAY - A road, street or other passage. Technically, a right of passage over land.
WAYLEAVE - A right of way over or through land for the carriage of minerals from a mine or quarry. It is an easement of the class called "rights of way," and is generally created by express grant or reservation.
WEEKS LAW LANDS - Federal acquired lands within National Forest boundaries acquired under 36 Stat. 961, the weeks law.
WHARFING OUT, RIGHT OF - A right to the exclusive use of submerged lands as by the affixing thereto or the establishment thereon of a permanent structure to some point within a navigable body of water. It presupposes exclusive use and to that extent it may interfere with fishing or navigation.
WHARF PERMIT - A permit which authorizes the use of a shore-space reserve for wharfage purposes.
WILDLIFE REFUGE - A reservation for the protection of wildlife.
WILDLIFE REFUGE EXCHANGE - An exchange whereby the Federal Government receives title to lands within a wildlife refuge.
WILLIAMETTE MERIDIAN - The principal meridian governing surveys in Oregon and Washington; it was adopted in 1851.
WIND RIVER MERIDIAN - The principal meridian governing surveys in a small area in Wyoming; it was adopted in 1875.
WINZE - In mining, a vertical or steeply inclined passageway driven to connect a mine working with another.
WITHDRAWAL - An action which restricts the disposition of public lands and which holds them for specific public purposes; also, public lands which have been dedicated to public purposes. See WITHDRAWAL, GENERAL ORDERS OF; RESERVATION.
WITHDRAWAL, GENERAL ORDERS OF - Under Executive orders Numbers 6910 (Nov. 26, 1934), and 6964 (Feb. 5, 1935), known as the "General Orders of Withdrawal," all vacant public lands in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming were withdrawn for classification.
WITHIN LIMITS - At less than allowable linear and angular errors of closure as set forth in the Manual of Surveying Instructions. Also within rectangular limits.
WITNESS - A person who testifies as to what he has observed. See EXPERT WITNESS.
WITNESS CORNER - A monumented survey point usually on the line of survey near a corner established as a reference when the corner is so situated as to render its monumentation or ready use impracticable.
WITNESS POINT - A monumented station on a line of the survey, employed to perpetuate an important location without special relation to any regular corner, except that the bearing or distance may be known.
WITNESS TREE - According to the General Instructions of 1846, and other instructions prior to that year, "Witness trees are signalized and marked as (bearing trees), but the course and distance to them, as well as the small chop, are omitted." Later, all trees used as corner accessories were marked as bearing trees, and the distance and bearing from the corner was recorded. The term "Witness tree" became obsolete. See BEARING TREE.
WRIT OF ERROR - A process of common law origin, it is a precept issued in writing by an appellate court to a lower court for supposed error in law apparent on record. A writ of error removes nothing to the higher court for re-examination except the law. See APPEAL.

X

X (Land Status Records) - Exchange(d).
X - The departure or distance along the east-west axis in a coordinate system.

Y

Y - The latitude or distance along the north-south axis in a coordinate system.

Z

ZONE – The unit of division in State Plane Coordinate Systems created where state boundaries extend beyond limits imposed in the design of the projection system. Where the scale error between a geodetic distance and its grid representation exceeds 1 in 10,000 a state was usually divided into two or more zones. A new origin is used for each zone. See DANGER ZONE.
Zero - Zero degrees, minutes, and seconds. A perfect zero
Zenith is the direction pointing directly above a particular location (perpendicular, orthogonal). Since the concept of being above is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the zenith in more rigorous terms. Specifically, in astronomy, geophysics and related sciences (e.g., meteorology), the zenith at a given point is the local vertical direction pointing away from direction of the force of gravity at that location. The zenith is used in the following scientific contexts:
- It serves as the direction of reference for measuring the zenith angle, which is the angular distance between a direction of interest (e.g., a star) and the local zenith, relative to the point for which the zenith is defined.
- It defines one of the axes of the horizontal coordinate system in astronomy.
Zeiss Instruments - a company founded by Carl Zeiss (September 11, 1816 – December 3, 1888). Check out their home page here. You may also be interested in checking out Calculation of glass properties - a significant contribution to the success of the companies Zeiss and Schott.
Zoning - a term used in urban planning for a system of land-use regulation in various parts of the world, including North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another. Zoning may be use-based (regulating the uses to which land may be put), or it may regulate building height, lot coverage, and similar characteristics, or some combination of these. [link Wikipedia]
Zmax.net - We've talked about the surveying system from quite a few times (link to manufacturer).