D Terms

             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 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.
             DEMUR   – To take exception. To make an objection. To present a demurrer. See DEMURRER.
             DEMURRER    – 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*.
             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.
             DEPOSIT  – In mining, a quantity of mineral substances occurring naturally in the earth; as, a deposit of gold, oil, etc.
             DEPOSIT SURVEY    – A cadastral survey made under certain public land laws which allow or require that the claimant
               make a deposit of money in the estimated amount of the cost of the survey.
             DEPOSITION   – The testimony of a witness taken under oath and reduced to writing, authenticated, and intended to be
               used upon the trial of an action in court. A written declaration under oath, made upon notice to the adverse party for
               the purpose on enabling him to attend and cross-examine; or upon written interrogatories. It is the giving of notice to
               the adverse party which especially distinguishes a deposition from an affidavit. See AFFIDAVIT,
               INTERROGATORIES.
             DEPUTY SURVEYOR     – A surveyor who entered into a contract to survey a portion of the public lands under the
               system in existence prior to 1910 was commissioned by the Surveyor General as his deputy. See CONTRACT
               SYSTEM.
             DERELICTION    – Same as Reliction.
             DESCRIPTION   – See CORNER DESCRIPTION, LEGAL DESCRIPTION.
             DESCRIPTION BY LEGAL SUBDIVISION       – Definition of a unit or units of land with reference to the rectangular the
               system; for example, Lot 3 and SE ¼  NW ¼ sec. 6, T. 8 N., R. 20 W., 5  Prin. Mer., Arkansas.
             DESERT-LAND APPLICATION, STATE       – An application filed by a State for a grant of desert land for the purpose
               of disposal to bona fide settlers. See CAREY ACTS.
             DESERT LAND ENTRY     – An entry of irrigable arid agricultural public lands, under the terms of the Act of March 3,
               1877, as amended, for the purpose of reclamation, irrigation and cultivation in part.
             DESERT-LAND SEGREGATION, STATE        – Arid public lands which have been selected by a State under the Carey
               Acts and which are set aside pending completion under State direction of an irrigation system to reclaim the lands.
             DIAGRAM, TOWNSHIP OR SECTION        – A standardized drawing of a township or of a section which shows the
               major legal subdivisions.
             DICTA  – Opinions of a judge which are beside the point of a case at issue before the court. See OBITER DICTUM.
             DICTUM   – A remark by the way. Generally, the word  “dictum”  is used as an abbreviated form of  “Obiter dictum.”
               See OBITER DICTUM.
             DIKE  – 1) (noun) An embankment or barrier constructed to hold water out of a low-lying area, or to hold water within
               an area. 2) (verb) To surround, protect, or enclose with such an embankment. 3) (in geology) A sheet like intrusion
               of magma forced upward through fissures in the earth’s crust and hardened to a tabular mass of igneous rock. A
               volcanic dike may vary from a few inches to hundreds of feet in horizontal thickness. See LEVEE, GROIN.
             DIRECT  – 1) a transit observation on the sun used for computing bearing as opposed to use of the solar instrument. 2)
               The normal position of the transit’s telescope. See DIRECT TIE, DIRECT MEASUREMENT, DIRECT ANGLES*.
             DIRECT MEASUREMENT       – Determination of a distance by physical comparison or accumulation of distance using
               a device calibrated in some unit of measure. See INDIRECT MEASUREMENT.
             DIRECT TIE  – A connection to another survey point by physical measurement. See DIRECT MEASUREMENT.
             DIRECTOR   – The present title of the official who is head of the Bureau of Land Management. Functions formerly
               assigned to the Commissioner of the General Land Office and to the Director of the Grazing Service are a part of
               this official’s responsibility.
             DIRECT SYSTEM    – The Interior Department appropriation Act of 1911 (June 25, 1910, 36 Stat. 703, 740), provided,
               under  “Surveying the Public Lands”; “The surveys and resurveys to be made by such competent surveyors as the
               Secretary of the Interior may select, …”  This provision ended the practice of letting contracts for the surveys of the
               public lands, and required the  “direct”  hiring of a permanent corps of cadastral surveyors. See CONTRACT
               SYSTEM.
             DIRTY SHEET   – A slang term for a sketch showing the current progress and details of the field work of a cadastral
               survey.
             DISCOVERY    – In mining law, as the basis of the right to locate a mining claim upon the public domain, discovery
               means the finding of mineralized rock in place. Also, the physical exposure of the mineral vein or lode or other
               mineral deposit on the ground. See VEIN, DISCOVERY, and POINT OF DISCOVERY.
             DISPOSAL, LAND   – A transaction which leads to the transfer of title to public lands from the Federal Government.
             DISPOSITION   – A transaction which leads to the transfer of public lands, and/or resources in these lands from the
               Federal Government.
             DISTANCE, PARENTHETICAL      – See PARENTHETICAL DISTANCE.
             DISTORTION   – A greater than usual change in bearings and distances of the original survey which is reflected by a
               retracement or resurvey.
             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 BETWEENA 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 too 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 Terms

             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 Terms

             F.2d –  In a citation, as 22 F.2d 100, means Federal Reporter, Second Series.
             FAA (Land Status Records)  – Federal Aviation Administration.
             FBX MER (Land Status Records ) – Fairbanks Meridian.
             FC (Land Status Records)  – Final Certificate.
             FED (Land Status Records)  – Federal.
             FED  – Federal. If shown as a citation [198 Fed. 125 (1912)], it means  “Federal Reporter.”
             FF LSE (Land Status Records)  – Fur farm lease.
             FFMC (Land Status Records)  – Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation.
             FHA (Land Status Records)  – Farmers Home Administration.
             FIS (Land Status Records)  – Fissionable materials.
             FL  – Florida.  See Florida Land Surveyors
             FLA.  – Florida.  See Florida Land Surveyors
             FLPMA   – Federal Land Policy and Management Act, of 1976.
             FLS (Land Status Records)  – Forest lieu selection.
             FLUP  – Free land use permit.
             FM U (Land Status Records)  – Farm unit.
             FPA (Land Status Records)  – Federal Power act.
             FPAS ACT  – The Federal Property and Administration Services Act of 1949, as amended, sets forth the basic
               contracting procedures and principles which all civilian agencies must follow.
             FPC (Land Status Records)  – Federal Power Commission.
             FPR  – Federal Procurement Regulations.
             FR (Land Status Records)  – Federal Register.
             FRAC (Land Status Records)  – Fractional.
             FRAC INT PAT (Land Status Records)  – Fractional Interest patent.
             FS (Land Status Records)  – Forest Service.
             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.
               Usually the direction of falling is expressed as cardinal.
             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,”  which is defined as a man’s own land, possessed in his own right, without owing
               any rent or service to any superior. 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, male or female, lineal
               or collateral. In American law, the terms  “fee,” “fee simple”  and  “fee simple absolute”  are equivalent. See FEE
               SIMPLE, FEE TAIL.
             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 simple title to public lands in conveyed by a patent, approved clear list, deed or grant without
               condition. See APPROVED CLEAR LIST, PATENT, DEED, GRANT, and 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. See FIELD EXAMINATION (Prior to 1910 and FIELD EXAMINER
               (Prior to 1910).
             FIELD EXAMINATION (Prior to 1910)  – A method of checking public land survey field work under the contract
               system. See FIELD EXAMINER (Prior to 1910), CONTRACT SYSTEM, DIRECT SYSTEM and FIELD
               EXAMINATION.
             FIELD EXAMINER (Prior to 1910)  – A surveyor who was employed by the Government to inspect the accuracy and
               authenticity of contract surveyors’ work. See FIELD EXAMINATION, FIELD EXAMINATION (Prior to 1910),
               CONTRACT SYSTEM and DIRECT SYSTEM.
             FIELD NOTES   – The official written record of the survey, certified by the field surveyor and approved by proper
               authority. Originally, Field Notes were prepared by hand, but they are now typewritten. See FIELD TABLETS and
               APPROVED SURVEY.
             FIELD RETURNS    – The field notes, reports and plats submitted for acceptance or approval. See FINAL RETURNS
               and RETURNS.
             FIELD TABLETS   – Notebooks in which the initial information is recorded in the field, and from which the Field
               Notes are transcribed. See FIELD NOTES.
             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 entries
               may be either cash entries or commuted entries. See CASH ENTRY and COMMUTED HOMESTEAD ENTRY.
               Also see ENTRY and ORIGINAL ENTRY.
             FINAL RETURNS    – In cadastral surveying usage, the field returns are the field notes, reports and plats submitted for
               acceptance or approval. If some error or omission is found, the field work must be corrected or completed. the
               corrected and/or completed field returns are referred to as  “final returns.”  See FIELD RETURNS and RETURNS.
             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. See SECOND
               FORM RECLAMATION WITHDRAWAL.
             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
                                                                                                         st
               in parts of both Ohio and Indiana. One of six principal meridians named for ordinal numbers, it is abbreviated 1
               Prin Mer. See ORDINAL NUMBER.
             FIVE ACRE TRACT ACT     – See SMALL TRACT ACT.
             FIVE PERCENT RULE    – New area amounts are not usually shown on plats of dependent resurveys. They are shown
               if the area of a vacant subdivision as determined by the dependent resurvey differs from the former area as returned
               on the original approved plat by more than two acres per normal legal subdivision, or 5%.
             FIXED BOUNDARY     – An unchangeable boundary created by operation of law. Examples are: 1) a standard parallel
               or other control line becomes a fixed boundary on return of areas in adjacent quarter sections. 2) A median line of a
               nonnavigable stream becomes a fixed boundary after an avulsive change. 3) Meander lines can become fixed
               boundaries when omitted lands have been created by gross error or fraud in the original survey.
             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. Also called  “point setter.”
             FLORIDA PURCHASE     – The second addition of territory originally claimed by a European power to the territory of
               the United States. It was ceded by Spain in 1819 under a treaty which settled conflicts with Spain in West Florida
               and defined the boundary between the United States and the Spanish possessions in the Southwest.
             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. The process usually requires remeasurement of topographic calls, search for evidence of the previous
               survey work, determination of consistent of inconsistent chaining or bearing error in the original survey, and
               consideration of various conditions at the time the survey was executed as well as the methods and equipment used
               by the surveyor to be followed.
             FORESHORE    – 1) (Shalowitz) 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) (T.R. No. 4) The part of the shore, lying between the
               crest of the seaward berm (or upper limit of wave action at high tide) and the ordinary low water mark, that is
               ordinarily traversed by the uprush and backrush of the waves as the tides rise and fall. See BEACH, SHORE,
               BACKSHORE and TIDELANDS.
             FORESIGHT   – 1) A sight on a new survey point made in connection with its determination. 2) a distant object
               intersected by a straight survey line used for checking alinement. See  FORESIGHT*.
             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
                                                th
               and part of Minnesota. It is abbreviated 4  Prin Mer.
             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 for various reasons were not included in the original surveys. Surveys of this type frequently
               require consideration of the question of title prior to the extension of the former surveys.
             FREE AND CLEAR    – The title to property is said to be  “free and clear”  when it is not encumbered by any lien; but it
               is said that agreement to convey land  “free and clear”  is satisfied by a conveyance passing a title.
             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. The term, as used
               in statutes relating to assessments for improvements, indicates that there is no intervening land. See ABUT and
               ADJOINING.

G Terms

            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. James Gadsden, a South Carolina railroad promoter negotiated for the acquisition of 19 million
               acres of additional land and the settlement of the claims. The territory acquired lies in the States of Arizona and New
               Mexico. See GADSDEN TREATY.
             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. the territory thus acquired is commonly called the
               GADSDEN PURCHASE.
             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. It was established as a unit of the Treasury Department in 1812, and so remained
               until 1949, when it became a part of the newly created Department of the Interior. It was abolished in 1946 when its
               functions were combined with those of the Grazing Service to become the Bureau of Land Management.
             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 azimuth is
               determined by applying a correction to astronomic azimuth or by computations on the reference ellipsoid. The
               azimuth from A toward B is the forward azimuth while the azimuth from B toward A is the back azimuth of station
               B. See  GEODETIC*.
             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. See GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES.
             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. See NORTH
               AMERICAN DATUM OF 1927.
             GEODETIC POSITION     – A position of a point on the surface of the earth expressed in terms of geodetic latitude and
               geodetic longitude. A geodetic position implies an adopted geodetic datum. In a complete record of a geodetic
               position, the datum must be stated. See GEOGRAPHIC POSITION.
             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. The office was created for the
               supervision of the cadastral survey of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River according to the rectangular system
               adopted by the Continental Congress under the ordinance. The east-west line at the north of  “The Seven Ranges”  is
               named  “The Geographer’s Line”  in his honor. His successor, Rufus Putnam, was given the title  “Surveyor General
               of the Northwest Territory”  under the terms of the Act of May 18, 1796. See ORDINANCE OF MAY 20, 1785,
               THE SEVEN RANGES, ACT OF MAY 18, 1796, THE GEOGRAPHER’S LINE, SURVEYOR GENERAL,
               UNITED STATES SUPERVISOR OF SURVEYS and CHIEF, DIVISION OF CADASTRAL SURVEY.
             GEOGRAPHER’S LINE, THE     – The first line surveyed under the rectangular system. This line, which extends the
               width of the Seven Ranges (42 miles), is named for Thomas Hutchins, the Geographer of the United States.
                  Under the Ordinance of May 20, 1785, the geographer was to  “personally attend to the running of”  a line westward
               from the  “Point of Beginning.”
             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.
                  In determining the geographic positions of monuments of the public land surveys, reference is made to USC & GS,
               NGS, USGS, or other acceptably determined stations.
             GEOID  – The figure of the earth considered as a mean sea-level surface extended continuously through the continents.
               See SPHEROID and GEOID*.
             GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS. (GLO)      – The first Geological Surveys of the public lands were initiated in 1844 by the
               General Land Office, in Michigan. Similar surveys were made in Wisconsin and Iowa during 1847; in Oregon and
               Washington during 1853; in Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming during 1857. All such surveys were performed
               under private contracts. The Geological Survey was not established as a bureau of the Department of the Interior
               until 1879.
             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. In rare and extreme cases, therefore, an irregular
               township may be without a single governing boundary.
             GOVERNING SECTION LINE      – A township subdivision line ran as the controlling boundary to rectify a defective
               township exterior. The line is surveyed on a bearing calculated to intersect the controlling corner on the opposite
               boundary. The last mile is run random and true. Completion of the subdivision of a township is based upon this
               boundary. See GUIDE MERIDIAN, SECTIONAL GUIDE MERIDIAN, STANDARD PARALLEL and
               SECTIONAL CORRECTION LINE.
             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
               (also recorded as 0.05). See GRADIENT BOUNDARY.
             GRADIENT BOUNDARY      – A boundary determined by the position of flowing water along a bank. First announced
               in Oklahoma vs. Texas by the U.S. Supreme Court (265 US 493), as follows:  “The boundary line is a gradient of
               flowing water in the river. It is located midway between the lower level of the flowing water that just reaches the
               cut-bank and the higher level of it that just does not overtop the cut-bank.. The physical top of the cut-bank, being
               very uneven in profile, cannot be a datum for locating the boundary line but a gradient along the bank must be used
               for that purpose. The highest point on the gradient must not be higher than the lowest acceptable point on the bank
               in that vicinity.”
             GRADUAL AND IMPERCEPTIBLE        – Describes changes in riparian lands that bring them within the scope of the
               doctrine of accretion and erosion. The test of what is gradual and imperceptible has been held to be that  “though the
               witnesses may see, from time to time, that progress has been made, they could not perceive it while the progress was
               going on.”  See RIPARIAN LANDS, ACCRETION, RELICTION and EROSION.
             GRANT   – Lands, title to which has been confirmed or conferred to the United States for a particular reason or purpose.
               See GRANT IN PLACE, QUANTITY GRANT and PRIVATE LAND GRANT.
             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 retracment value between the controlling
               corners. See BROKEN BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT, ADJUSTMENT* and CLOSING ERROR.
             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. See QUANTITY GRANT, PLACE LANDS and INDEMNITY
               LANDS.
             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. Organized in the Department of the Interior after the passage, in 1934, of
               the Taylor Grazing Act, it was abolished in 1946 when its functions were consolidated with those of the General
               Land Office and transferred to the newly created Bureau of Land Management.
             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. From it other longitudes are reckoned east and west. See WASHINGTON MERIDIAN.
             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. Although essentially a map quantity, a grid azimuth may, by mathematical
               processes, be transformed into a geodetic azimuth.
             GRID BEARING    – The smaller angle in the plane of projection between a line and a north-south grid line. Grid
               bearings are determined only by mathematical computations or by applying corrections to geodetic azimuths. See
               BEARING, BACK BEARING, GEODETIC AZIMUTH and GRID AZIMUTH.
             GRID LENGTH    – The distance between two points as obtained by inverse computation from the plane-rectangular
               coordinates of the points. In the state coordinate systems, a grid length differs from a geodetic length by the amount
               of a correction based on the scale factor for the given line.
             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. Sometimes incorrectly called a dike. See DIKE.
             GROOVES   – Elongated depressions scored into the face of a stone monument where the faces of the stone are turned
               to the cardinal. See NOTCHES.
             GROUP NUMBER     – A filing and record-keeping system whereby a particular cadastral survey project is identified,
               i.e., Group 123, Wyoming. Since the beginning of the Direct System, all cadastral survey projects authorized under
               one specific set of instructions have been referred to by their  “Group number.”
             GUARANTEE OF TITLE     – A certification which insures that the title exists in fact as described. Often issued by
               title-guarantee companies or by the state, as in the case of a Land Court certificate. See LAND COURT.
             GUIDE LINE  – An obsolete term for random line.
             GUIDE MERIDIAN    – An auxiliary governing line projected north along an astronomical meridian, from points
               established on the base line or a standard parallel, usually at intervals of 24 miles east or west of the principal
               meridian, on which township, section, and quarter-section corners are established. See AUXILIARY GUIDE
               MERIDIAN.

H Terms

             HB  – Handbook. If in a citation, it means  “House Bill.”
             HDQ S (Land Status Records)  – Headquarters Site.
             HDS (Land Status Records)  – Homestead declaratory statement.
             HE (Land Status Records)  – Homestead entry.
             HES (Land Status Records)  – Homestead entry survey.
             HI  – Hawaii. See Hawaii Land Surveyors
             HI (Land Status Records)  – Historical Index. Se HI*.
             HUM MER (Land Status Records)  – Humboldt Meridian.
             HUNTS MER (Land Status Records)  – Huntsville Meridian.
             HWY (Land Status Records)  – Highway.
             HACK   – A horizontal notch cut well into a tree at about breast height. In a cadastral survey, two hacks are cut to
               distinguish them from other, accidental marks. A vertical section of the finished hack marks resembles a double-V
               extending across a tree from two to six inches, depending on the diameter of the tree.
               The  “blaze”  and  “hack”  marks are equally permanent, but so different in character that one mark should never be
               mistaken for the other.
               Hacks are sometimes called  “notches”  or, in older surveys,  “chaps.”  See BLAZE.
             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 a regular section consists of any two quarter sections which have a common boundary, divided by a line
               between opposite ¼ corners.
               In past years, patents for half of a Government lot have been erroneously issued. The division line was determined
               by equally divided linear measurements without regard to the actual area of the halves.
               In private land exchanges, it is generally presumed that a conveyance for half of a parcel grants half the area unless
               otherwise stated.
             HALF-MILE POSTS    – In early survey practice, in parts of Alabama and Florida, so-called  “half-mile posts”  were
               established. In some cases the  “half-mile post”  was not at mid-point on the section line. In other cases the  “half-mile
               post”  was in true position for the quarter-section corner. In still other instances the  “half-mile post”  was not on true
               line nor at mid-point on the line. Each set of field notes regarding  “half-mile posts”  require individual consideration,
               as the survey practices were not uniform even within the same surveying district.
             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. Also used for identifying areas left unsurveyed by hiatus. See
               HALF-TOWNSHIP NUMBERS.
             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. Also used for identifying areas left unsurveyed by hiatus. See
               HALF-RANGE NUMBERS.
             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. The transfer of sovereignty took place
               August 12, 1898. Since Hawaii had been an independent nation, it was not a public-land state.
             HEADING   – In mining, a preliminary passageway driven for exploratory purposes or to facilitate future work. Also,
               the forward end of a drift or tunnel.
             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 pursuit to
               U.S.D.I. Hearing Procedures (43 C.F.R. 1850). (See 43 C.F.R. part 4)
             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. A vertical fault can have no  heave , and a horizontal fault can have no  throw.  See
               THROW.
             HEAVY BEARING     – A survey slang term for a bearing which departs markedly from cardinal. A bearing of 2 or more
               degrees from cardinal may be considered a  “heavy”  bearing.  “Strong bearing”  is used synonymously.
             HECTARE   – A metric unit of area equal to 100 ares or 2.471 acres.
             HEREDITAMENT     – Property subject to inheritance. See PROPERTY.
             HIATUS  – An area between two surveys, the record of which describes them as having one or more common boundary
               lines with no omission. See OVERLAP and HIATUS*.
             HIGH WATER    – 1) The maximum height or stage reached by rising water. 2) (NOS) The maximum height reached by
               a rising tide. The height may be due solely to the periodic tidal forces or it may have superimposed on it the effects
               of prevailing meteorological conditions.
             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. The mark may be a line of oil or scum on alongshore objects, or a more
               or less continuous deposit of fine shell or debris on the foreshore or berm. This mark is physical evidence of the
               general height reached by wave run-up at recent high waters. It should not be confused with the mean high water

               line or mean higher high water line. See LOW WATER MARK and ORDINARY HIGH WATER. For tidal
               conditions, See MEAN HIGH WATER and MEAN LOW 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. See LAND STATUS RECORDS.
             HISTORIC COAST LINE    – The coast line position at date of statehood from which seaward distances may be
               measured to determine territorial waters of some States, Florida and Texas for example.
             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, consisting of an affidavit of the claimant’s right to enter, a formal
               application for the land, and payment of the money required.
             HOMESTEAD ENTRY, ORIGINAL       – An original entry under the homestead laws, also, the first homestead entry
               which was made by any individual, also, a homestead entry which was made pursuant to the first homestead law, the
               act of May 20, 1862 (12 Stat. 392) as codified in Sec. 2289 of the Revised Statutes. A second homestead entry was
               permitted under specific conditions as provided in the public land laws.
             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 (30 Stat. 409; 48 U.S.C. 371; 43 C.F.R.
               Subpart 2567 et. seq.), as amended, which extended the homestead laws to Alaska. All homestead claims in Alaska
               must be perfected in accordance with the 3-year homestead law of June 6, 1912 (37 Stat. 123; 43 U.S.C. 164, 169,
               218).
             HOVERSIGHT*
             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.
               The division of the watersheds. See CONTINENTAL DIVIDE.

I Terms

             IA  – Iowa.  See Iowa Land Surveyors
             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,” “on the same
               page,”  etc. It usually refers to an immediately preceding citation with an identical page reference. See ID.
             IBLA  – Interior Board of Land Appeals. See BOARD OF LAND APPEALS.
             IC (Land Status Records)  – Interim Conveyance.
             ID.  – Abbreviation for  “idem,”  a Latin term meaning  “the same.”  It indicates an immediately preceding citation but a
               different page reference. See IBID.
             ID  – Idaho.  See Idaho Land Surveyors
             ID (Land Status Records)  – Interior Decisions.
             IDEN (Land Status Records)  – Identify, Identification.
             ID EST  – That is. Commonly abbreviated  “i.e.”
             I.E.  – That is. The common abbreviation for the Latin  “id est.”
             IL  – Illinois.  See Illinois Land Surveyors
             IL (Land status Records)  – Indemnity list.
             ILL.  – Illinois.  See Illinois Land Surveyors
             INC (Land Status Records)  – Including, Inclusive.
             IN  – Indiana.  See Indiana Land Surveyors
             IND.  – Indiana. See Indiana Land Surveyors
             IND FEE (Land Status Records)  – Indian Fee.
             IND HD TR PAT (Land Status Records)  – Indian homestead trust patent.
             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; as a contract not signed by all the parties or a
               wife’s interest in the lands of her husband during his life, which may become a right of dower upon his death. See
               DOWER.
             INCHOATE TITLE    – The beginning of a title or one not yet perfected into a legal title. When only a portion of the
               requirements for title has been completed, the title is  “inchoate.”
             INCORPOREAL PROPERTY       – That which cannot be seen or touched. Property, such as a right, which exists only in
               contemplation, as distinguished from corporeal property which has a material existence and which may be seen and
               touched. See CORPOREAL.
             INCREMENT BORER      – Sometimes called increment boring tool, it is a tool used to cut a plug from a tree to permit a
               count of the growth rings in determining the age of the tree.
             INDEMNITY LANDS     – Alternate lands granted to states under the public land laws when granted lands were
               unavailable. See INDEMNITY LIMITS, SCHOOL-LAND INDEMNITY SELECTION and LIEU LANDS.
             INDEMNITY LIMITS    – In railroad and wagon road grants, the strips of land lying within a specified distance on each
               side of, and adjacent to, the primary limits, within which the grantee could make lieu selections for lands lost to the
               grantee in the primary limits; also, the outside boundaries of these strips. See RAILROAD LIEU SELECTION.
             INDEMNITY SCHOOL SELECTION        – See SCHOOL-LAND INDEMNITY SELECTION.
             INDEMNITY SELECTION      – See LIEU SELECTION.
             INDENTURE   – In conveyancing, formal written instrument made between two or more persons; the name is derived
               from the ancient practice of indenting or cutting the deed in a waving or saw-tooth line. In this way a part could be
               proved genuine by the way in which it fit into the angles cut into the other part.
             INDEPENDENT RESURVEY       – An official rerunning and remarking intended to supersede the records of the original
               survey and establish new section lines and subdivisions on public lands only. Any patented lands involved must be
               identified and segregated according to the original survey. Only remaining areas of the public lands may be
               resurveyed without regard to the original survey. See DEPENDENT RESURVEY and RESURVEY.
             INDEX CORRECTION     – 1) As used in the resurvey of the public lands, an average error in the lines of the original
               survey. The average error in the lines of an original survey (if conclusive) may be in alinement, or measurement, or
               both. 2) A correction applied to a reading to compensate for displacement of the zero mark.
             INDIAN ALLOTMENT     – An allocation of a parcel of public lands or Indian reservation lands to an Indian for his
               individual use; also, the lands so allocated.
             INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION ACT       – The act of Aug. 13, 1946, under which Indian claims to land based upon
               fair and honorable dealings that are not recognized by any existing rule of law or equity may be submitted to the
               Commission with right of judicial review by the United States Court of Claims.
             INDIAN EXCHANGE     – See INDIAN RESERVATION EXCHANGE.
             INDIAN FEE PATENT    – An Indian patent which conveys fee title.
             INDIAN HOMESTEAD ENTRY       – A homestead entry which is made by an Indian.
             INDIAN LANDS   – See CEDED INDIAN LANDS and INDIAN RESERVATION.
             INDIAN MERIDIAN    – The principal meridian which governs surveys in all of Oklahoma except the “panhandle;” it
               was adopted in 1870.
             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 which is issued with the condition that title to the land remains for a
               specified period of time in the United States in trust for the patentee.
             INDICATED CORNER     – A term adopted by the USGS to designate 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, but which is accepted
               locally as the correct corner and whose location is perpetuated by such marks as fence-line intersections, piles of
               rock, and states or pipes driven into the ground, which have been recovered by field investigation. See
               OBLITERATED CORNER.
             INDIRECT MEASUREMENT       – Determination of a distance using a method, i.e., triangulation or traverse, which
               employs both direct measurement and calculation. Also, determination of distance by use of photogrammetry, or
               timed travel of light or sound waves. See DIRECT MEASUREMENT.
             INDIVIDUAL LIEU SELECTION, RAILROAD       – See RAILROAD LIEU SELECTION.
             IN FEE  – Ownership in land. See FEE SIMPLE.
             INFORMATIVE TRAVERSE       – A survey made to obtain topographic data or to define the present river bank in front
               of patented lands. In the second case the informative traverse is used to apportion the lands formed by accretion to
               the public lands.
             INFRA  – Below. Under. When used in text it refers to matter in a later part of the publication. See SUPRA, OP. CIT.
               SUPRA.
             INGRESS  – The right to enter a tract of land. In the law of riparian rights, the right of return to his land from navigable
               water which a riparian owner enjoys. See ACCESS, EGRESS, INGRESS.
             INGRESS, EGRESS AND REGRESS      – These words express the right of a lessee to enter, go upon, and return from
               the lands in question. See ACCESS, EGRESS and INGRESS.
             INITIAL MONUMENT     – A physical structure which marks the location of an initial point in the rectangular system
               of surveys. See INITIAL POINT.
             INITIAL POINT  – A point which is established under the rectangular system of surveys and from which is initiated
               the cadastral survey of the principal meridian and base line that controls the cadastral survey of the public lands
               within a given area. See PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, BASE LINE, RECTANGULAR SYSTEM OF SURVEYS and
               INITIAL MONUMENT.
             INITIAL POINT OF A METES AND BOUNDS SURVEY        – Also called  “beginning point.”  In a survey such as the
               survey of the boundaries of an Indian reservation, each angle point is monumented and assigned a number. The
               numbers are in series with number 1 at the initial point.
             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 of 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 0º 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.

K Terms

             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 Terms

             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   –(pronounced as door latches) 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. Now, all lakes of the area of 50 acres and upwards are meandered.
               Exceptions to this rule include artificial lakes and reservoirs (unless the instructions specifically provide for their
               meandering) and shallow or poorly defined  “lakes”  which are actually pools that collect due to permafrost and lack
               of drainage, or which are desert playas. See PLAYA AND PERMAFROST.
             LAMBERT CONFORMAL CONIC MAP PROJECTION            – A map plotting system in which points on the ellipsoid
               are mathematically projected onto a cone with its axis identical with the polar axis. The cone surface may be tangent
               to the ellipsoid 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 more east-west than
               north-south.
             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. There are Land Courts in California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
               North Carolina, North Dakota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
             LAND DECISIONS   – Decisions of the Department of the Interior relating to the Public lands. The decisions made
               prior to June 30, 1932 are published in volumes 1 thru 52 and are referred to as  “Land Decisions”  and cited as
               “L.D.’s, thus, 47 L.D. 10.”  See INTERIOR DECISIONS and BOARD OF LAND APPEALS.
             LAND DEPARTMENT      – The generalized term adopted in legal literature to denote the Secretary of the Interior, the
               Commissioner of the General Land Office, and currently (1973) the Director of the Bureau of Land Management,
               and their predecessors, together with subordinate officials, when acting in their capacity as administrators of the
               public-land laws.
             LAND DISTRICT   – the area administered by a particular land office. The act of may 10, 1800, provided for the
               creation of the first four land districts in  “The territory northwest of the Ohio and above the mouth of the Kentucky
               River,”   as follows:
             DISTRICT                                           L A N D  O F F I C E
             Land below the Little Miami …………………..      Cincinnati
             Land east of the Scioto …………………………         Chillicothe
             Land east of the sixteenth range of townships ….    Marietta
             Other land………………………………………..                Steubenville
               As the public land surveys spread, new land districts were created. As the disposition of the public lands progressed
               and the work in a land district lessened, the land districts were abolished. A provision of the Act of July 31, 1876,
               abolished the land districts in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. This was about the same time as the creation of new land
               districts in Utah, Washington and Wyoming (43 U.S.C.A., sec. 121, Historical Note). See LAND OFFICE, LAND
               OFFICES (BLM) and DISTRICT OFFICES (BLM).
             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. 2) Any prominent object on land which can be used in determining a location or a direction. 3) A
               landmark decision; a judicial decision considered a turning point or highpoint of the era.
             LAND OFFICE   – A Government office, subordinate to the General Land Office. These offices were established in
               various parts of the United States for the transaction of local business relating to the survey, location, settlement,
               pre-emption and sale of the public lands. The brisk and extensive business in these offices gave a new phrase to our
               language –  “a land-office business.”   See  LAND DEPARTMENT, LAND DISTRICT, GENERAL LAND
               OFFICE.
             LAND OFFICE STATUS PLAT     – The triplicate plat of a survey used to be referred to as the  status plat.”   It was the
               companion record, in graphic form, to the tract book. These records together constituted, prior to the beginning of
               the Records Improvement Program in 1955, the records required in accordance with 43 C.F.R. 1813.1-1. To protct
               the plats from continual wear and damage and to preserve the information they contain, a system was developed
               whereby the old status plats are microfilmed before they are retired to a Federal Records Center. Through BLM’s
               Records Improvement Project, new records were developed. See MASTER TITLE PLAT, USE PLAT,
               HISTORICAL INDEX and TRACT BOOK.
             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. Land specifically withdrawn, such as national parks, national monuments, military
               reservations and Indian lands are not subject to location. Minerals found within a national forest are subject to
               location provided the discovery is such that it would justify an ordinary prudent person his expenditure of time and
               effort in developing a paying mine. Without the existence of commercial value, mineral claims within a national
               forest are not valid locations. Lands such as the beds of navigable bodies of water and land between high and low-
               water mark are not subject to location under the Federal mining laws. See also STATES EXEMPT FROM
               FEDERAL MINING LAW.
             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. It is a well
               settled principle of law that the United States, through the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land management,
               has the authority and duty to extend the public land surveys as may be necessary. Lands erroneously omitted from
               earlier surveys are, for example, 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. The land status records include
               the Master Title Plat, Supplemental Master Title Plat, Use Plat, Historical Index, Control Document Index,
               Miscellaneous Document Index, Serial Register, Mineral Location and Contest Index, Tract Books, Plat Books,
               Patents, Deeds Name Index Card File, and the Working and Reference Records.
             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. See CADASTRAL SURVEY.
             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. 2) The north-south component of a traverse course. See GEODETIC LATITUDE* and
               ASTRONOMIC LATITUDE*.
             LEAGUE   – A marine measure of distance. In different times and countries it has varied from 2.4 miles to 4.6 miles.
               See MARINE LEAGUE*.
             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.
               See MINERAL LEASE and PLACER Law of 1897.
             LEASE  – 1) A contract granting possession or control of real property for a determined period. 2) Tahe act of granting
               the lease. 3) The act of the lessee in taking the lease.
             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. See SUBDIVISION,
               SMALLEST LEGAL; ALIQUOT PARTS and MINOR SUBDIVISIONS.
             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. For example: a fictitious or grossly
               erroneous meander line may be held to be a fixed and  “limiting boundary”  of the lands actually surveyed; the
               exterior boundaries of an area to be independently resurveyed may be termed the  “limiting boundary”  of that project
               area. See OUTBOUNDARIES and FIXED BOUNDARY.
             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. Originally, these trees were called  “station trees,”  and they
               are sometimes called  “sight trees,”  but since the line intersects them, the term  “line tree”  is preferred.
             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, posting a notice of location and
               recording the claim. In a broad sense there are 4 types of location: lode or vein, placer, tunnel and mill site. In a
               secondary meaning, a location is the mining claim covered by an act of appropriate or location. Also See MINING
               CLAIM, LODE CLAIM, PLACER CLAIM, MILL-SITE ENTRY and LOCATION NOTICE.
             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, so that it can be readily identified.
             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. It must be filed and posted on the ground according to the laws of the state where located. Usually it sets
               forth the name of the locator, the date, the name of the claim, and a tie to a corner of the public land surveys. The
               essential requirement of a location notice, however, is that it must so describe and identify the location that it can be
               found by anyone interested in doing so, and that the boundaries may be readily traced on the ground. See
               LOCATION.
             LOCATION SURVEY*.
             LODE  – Mineralized rock lying within boundaries clearly separating it from the neighboring rock and extending
               longitudinally in a continuous zone or belt. In mining law, and in popular usage in the Western States, it is
               synonymous with  “ledge”  and  “vein.”  See MINERAL SURVEY.
             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, such as 90  West Longitude, or in time, such as 6
               hours West of Greenwich. See WASHINGTON MERIDIAN.
             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, and whose location can
               be restored only by reference to one or more interdependent corners.
             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. A lot may be regular or irregular in shape and its acreage varies from that of regular
               subdivisions. The term  “Government Lot”  is commonly used by persons outside the Bureau of Land Management in
               referring to such a subdivision of a section.  “Lot”  is also the name given individual parcels of recorded subdivisions
               of private tracts. See TOWN LOT, TRACT and URBAN SUBDIVISION.
             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. It resulted in the acquisition of more than 500 million acres of
               public lands west of the Mississippi River.
             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. See SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1850 and SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1860.
             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. See MEAN LOW
               WATER and HIGH-WATER MARK.
             LOXODROME     – See RHUMB LINE*.
             LUDLOW’S MERIDIAN     – See FIRST PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN.

M Terms

             M –  Mile, as marked on monuments and/or accessories .
             m – M eter.
             MA –  Massachusett s.
             MAT S (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.
             MILL S (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&P FACTOR    – Meridian and Parallel Factors. See M and P Factor (below).
             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 THEUNITED 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, or 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 PRINCIPLE MERIDIAN or MONT. PRIN. MER.         – 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 Terms

             N (Land Status Records)  – North.
             NA (Land Status Records)  – Native Allotment.
             NAV MER (Land Status Records)  – Navajo Merdian.
             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 se1.
             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 Terms

             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
               and COMMUTED HOMESTEAD 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
                                                                                          th
               purchase of Alaska (1867). The drainage basin of the Red River of the North, south of the 49  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.
                                                                                                       st
             OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT         – Also known as Public Law 212. An act passed during the 1
                             rd
               session of the 83  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.

P Terms

                    - Property Line.
             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.
             PI  – In highway surveying, Point of Intersection of two tangents.
             PL (Land Status Records)  – Public Law.
             PLC (Land Status Records)  – Private land claim.
             PLO (Land Status Records)  – Public Land Order.
             POL  – Point on line.
             POST  – In highway surveying, Point on semi tangent.
             POT (Land Status Records)  – Potassium.
             POT  - In highway surveys, Point on Tangent.
             PPS (Land Status Records)  – Primary Place of Business.
             PR PER (Land Status Records)  – Prospecting permit.
             PRE (Land Status Records)  – Preemption.
             PRIN MER (Land Status Records)  – Principal Meridian.
             PROC (Land Status Records ) – Proclamation.
             PROJ (Land Status Records)  – Project.
             PROP (Land Status Records)  – Propose, Proposed.
             PROT WDL (Land Status Records)  – Protective Withdrawal.
             PS (Land Status Records)  – Public Sale.
             PS  - Point of Spiral (curve).
             PSC  – Point of Spiral to Curve.
             P.S.C.  – Private survey claim. Used in the specimen field notes in the General Instructions of 1855.
             PST  – Point of Spiral to Tangent.
             PU (Land Status Records)  – Public Use.
             PUR (Land Status Records)  – Purchase.
             PW RES (Land Status Records)  – Public water reserve.
             PWR PROJ (Land Status Records)  – Power Project.
             PWR S (Land Status Records)  – Power site.
             PX (Land Status Records)  – Private Exchange.
             PANELING*.
             PARALLEL –   See STANDARD PARALLEL; STANDARD PARALLEL, AUXILIARY and PARALLEL*.
             PARALLEL OFFSET METHOD       – A method of traversing around obstacles and maintaining a line parallel to, and
               offset a measured distance from, the survey line.
             PARENTHETICAL DISTANCE       – Distances noted on the plats in parentheses are those regular and fractional
               portions of lines constituting the boundaries of the quarter-quarter sections and fractional subdivisions bounded
               thereby. Parentheses are used where the record is not supplied by the field notes, indicating that the distance was not
               measured on the ground. The figures show what was used in the calculation of areas. The same lengths are to be
               adopted proportionately whenever there is a need for an establishment of sixteenth-section corners on the section
               boundaries, and for control points for the subdivision of sections. See PROTRACTION and PROTRACTION
               DIAGRAM.
             PARK ENTRY    – A cash entry by an incorporated municipality of public lands which will be used for municipal park
               purposes.
             PAROL (Parole)  – Executed by word of mouth, or by writing not under seal. Also means a spoken promise. In its
               usual usage in criminal law; the promise of a prisoner to fulfill stated conditions in consideration of his release. See
               PAROL AGREEMENT, PAROL CONTRACT and PAROL EVIDENCE.
             PAROL AGREEMENT      – An oral agreement between the owners establishing the boundary dividing adjacent land.
             PAROL CONTRACT     – Any contract not of record or under seal.
             PAROL EVIDENCE     – Evidence gathered by testimony of witnesses. Sometimes  “parole evidence.”  A witness who
               gives verbal evidence concerning positive knowledge of the location of an original monument prior to its destruction
               is said to give  “parol evidence.”
             PARTITION LINE   – A survey line which cuts off a required area of a given parcel of land.
             PASSING CALLS   – Found frequently in cadastral surveyor’s field notes, they are calls for (references to) cultural or
               topographic features along a survey line. Passing calls are sometimes used to locate a line or to recover obliteratd
               corners.
             PATENT  – A document by which the United States conveys, to those entitled thereto, legal title to some portion of the
               public lands. See PATENT, TRUST; PATENT, CURATIVE; FEE SIMPLE and DEED.
             PATENT, CURATIVE    – An instrument issued to correct a patent. Patents issued in error may be annulled. Patents
               obtained fraudulently may be cancelled. Patents with conditions may be amended by new patents without
               conditions. Such actions and documents are authorized only in special situations recognized by public land laws and
               agency regulations.
             PATENT, TRUST   – A trust patent vests title in the Bureau of Indian Affairs as trustee for an Indian. Upon termination
               of the trust status of the Indian, a patent issues conveying fee-simple title to the Indian.
             PEDIS POSSESSIO   – Actual possession of real property implying actual occupancy or enclosure and use.
             PENULTIMATE    – Next to the last. The next to the last member in a series, such as the text to the last paragraph in a
               letter or the next to the last syllable of a word.
             PERCH   – A unit of linear measure equal to 25 links or 16½ feet. Also termed a  “pole”  or  “rod.”  In land area, a square
               rod; 272.25 square feet or .00625 acres.
             PERPETUATION OF CORNERS       – Establishment of points or other evidence which preserves the location of a
               corner. See REHABILITATE and REMONUMENTATION.
             PER SE  – Of itself; taken alone; unconnected with other matters.
             PERSONAL PROPERTY      – In a broad and general sense, everything that is the subject of ownership, excluding real
               property. See REAL PROPERTY.
             PHOTOGRAMMETRIC RESURVEY          – A survey, using a system combining photogrammetry and resurvey methods
               to re-establish the evidence of a prior official survey.
             PHOTOGRAMMETRIC SURVEY         – An original survey in which monuments are placed at corner positions which
               have been pre-determined by photogrammetric techniques and equipment.
             PHOTOGRAMMETRY        – The science or art of obtaining reliable measurements by means of photographs.
             PIN, CHAINING  – A metal pin used for marking intermediate measurements on the ground. In  “tally chaining”  with a
               five-chain tape a set would consist of 9 pins. See OUT, TALLY and ARROW.
             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.
             POINT  – A position or location in a reference system determined by survey, See POINT*.
             POINT OF BEGINNING, THE     – The point on the west boundary of the State of Pennsylvania at the north bank of the
               Ohio River is the point of beginning for the survey of the public lands of the United States. The point was marked by
               a stake on August 20, 1785.
             POINT OF DISCOVERY     – In mining, the precisely indicated position at which a valuable mineral is exposed to view.
               In the absence of proof to the contrary, the discovery point is held to be the center of the vein on the surface. See
               DISCOVERY and VEIN DISCOVERY.
             POINT ON LINE   – A stake or other object a surveyor has placed on a line for his convenience, such as for a back
               sight. In earlier times, under regulations found in various manuals of surveying instructions, surveyors were to set a
               Point on Line (POL) on top of ridges or spurs, at places where the line crossed trails or roads and at other like
               places. This was done to facilitate identification of the line. This type of point is now called a witness point. See
               WITNESS   POINT.
             POINT SETTER   – See FLAGMAN.
             POLE  – Also termed  “perch ”  and  rod”;    a unit of length in land measurement, equal to 25 links or 16.5 feet.
             POSITION AZIMUTH DETERMINATION SYSTEM*.
             POSSESSION   – Exercise of the right to use real property to the exclusion of others. See PEDIS POSSESSIO.
             POSSESSION IS NONE-TENTHS OF THE LAW        – This adage is not to be taken as true to the full extent. It does,
               however, focus light on the legal truth that every claimant must succeed by the strength of his own title and not by
               the weakness of his antagonist’s. Prior to passage of statutory mining laws in this country, miners made this, quite
               literally, their rule.
             POWER-SITE RESERVE     – A reservation of public lands which have been classified as having potential value for
               water power development and which have been so designated under the Act of June 20, 1910 (39 stat. 557), June 9,
               1916 (39 stat. 218), or Feb. 26, 1919 (40 Stat. 1178). See FEDERAL POWER PROJECT RESERVATION.
             PRAESENTI  – See IN PRAESENTI.
             PRECISION   – A quality associated with the refinement of instruments and measurements, indicated by the degree of
               uniformity and repeatability of observations. See PRECISION*.
             PREEMPTION ENTRY      – An entry of public lands for purchase under the preemption laws. These laws, now
               repealed, gave the entryman a preferred right to acquire the land by virtue of his occupation and improvement to it.
             PREEMPTION RIGHT     – The right given to settlers upon the public lands of the United States to purchase such lands
               in preference to other persons. This right was granted under preemption laws now repealed.
             PRESCRIPTION    – The manner of acquiring adverse rights in another’s land. Prescriptive rights are similar to
               “adverse possession”  but that term is used for title interest.  “Prescription”  refers to rights of use in land belonging
               to another, such as right of access, grazing rights or the right to divert flood waters. See ADVERSE POSSESSION
               and PRESCRIPTIVE RIGHT OF WAY.
             PRESCRIPTIVE RIGHT OF WAY      – A right of way based upon its adverse using extending to the limits of tradition
               and memory. In contrast, a right of way by dedication exists by the consent, either expressed or implied, of the
               owner of the land crossed. If a claim to a right of way is based upon the fact that the owners of a certain ranch have
               “always”  driven across a portion of another ranch, that may be the basis for a  “prescriptive”  right of way. See
               ADVERSE POSSESSION and PRESCRIPTION.
             PRESIDENT’S SIGNATURE ON LAND PATENTS         – Prior to 1833, the President personally signed each land
               patent before issuance by the General Land Office. Beginning in 1833, the President’s name was written on every
               land patent by an authorized secretary or executive clerk. The necessity for the President’s signature on all land
               patents was eliminated by law on June 17, 1948.
             PRIMA FACIE   – Latin. At first sight; on the first appearance; on the face of it; a fact presumed to be true unless
               disproved by some evidence to the contrary. Evidence good and sufficient on its face is prima facie evidence.
             PRIMARY LIMITS    – In railroad and wagon road grants, the strip of land lying within a specified distance on each
               side of, and adjacent to, the right-of-way, within which (usually) every odd-numbered section was granted. Also the
               outside boundaries of this strip. The term  “place limits”  is sometimes used to indicate primary limits. See
               INDEMNITY LIMITS.
             PRINCIPALS MERIDIAN     – The meridian extended from an initial point, upon which regular quarter quarter-section,
               section and township corners have been or are to be established. See GUIDE MERIDIAN and AUXILIARY GUIDE
               MERIDIAN.
             PRIVATE CONTEST     – See CONTEST.
             PRIVATE EXCHANGE      – An exchange between the Federal Government and any landowner other than a State. See
               EXCHANGE, STATE EXCHANGE and TAYLOR ACT EXCHANGE.
             PRIVATE LAND CLAIM     – A claim to a tract of land which is based on the assertion that title thereto was granted to
               the claimant or his predecessors in interest by a foreign government before the territory in which it is situated was
               acquired by the United States; also, the land so claimed. See DONATION LAND CLAIM.
             PRIVATE LAND GRANT     – Land, title to which was conferred by a predecessor government and confirmed by the
               Federal government after the territory in which it is situated was acquired by the United States, i.e., the Spanish land
               grants in the Southwest.
             PROJECT INSPECTOR     – An employee designated by the Contracting Officer’s Authorized Representative to
               directly inspect the work and enforce the terms of the contract.
             PROPERTY   – Used commonly to denote everything which is the subject of ownership. It extends to every species of
               valuable right and interest, and includes real and personal property. See PERSONAL PROPERTY, REAL
               PROPERTY and REAL ESTATE.
             PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT          – A proportionate measurement is one that applies an even distribution of a
               determined excess or deficiency of measurement, ascertained by retracement of an established line, so as to give
               concordant relation between all parts; that is, the new values given to each of the several parts, as determined by the
               measurement, shall bear the same relation to the record lengths as the new measurement of the whole line bears to
               that record. It should be noted that the rule is not ordinarily applicable in treating gross error or blunder, if the latter
               can be definitely segregated. See DOUBLE PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT and SINGLE
               PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT.
             PRORATION   – Proportionate measurement, division, distribution or adjustment. See PROPORTIONATE
               MEASUREMENT.
             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 Terms

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 ¼ 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 Terms

             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, a supplement to the Manual of
               Surveying Instructions which was first published by the General Land Office in 1910; the eighth edition was
               published in 1956. The tables and data are designed for use by Cadastral Surveyors in the field and office.
             RED RIVER CASE    – When oil was discovered in the Red River Valley between Oklahoma and Texas, land prices
               soared. The location of the Oklahoma-Texas boundary line, once a part of the boundary between the United States
               and the Spanish holdings in the Southwest, became a matter of great importance. Any rights to the bed or the banks
               of the river were dependent upon the wording of the treaty of 1819. In 1919 Oklahoma entered in suit against Texas
               and the United States intervened as a protection of the rights of Iowa and Comanche Indians. The suits involved
               amounts of more than $100 million. The U.S. Supreme Court proceedings fill 5,510 printed pages in nine volumes
               and the case required more than five years to settle. As a result of this landmark case, a new and unprecedented
               principle of law for the establishment of river boundaries came into being. (260 U.S. 606, 261 U.S. 340, 265 U.S.
               493). See GRADIENT BOUNDARY.
             RED RIVER OIL LANDS    – Public lands, containing oil and gas, which are located in the south half of the Red River,
                                  th
               Oklahoma, from the 98  Meridian to the North Fork.
             REEF (T.R. No. 4)  – A chain or range of rock or coral, elevated above the surrounding bottom of the sea, generally
               submerged and dangerous to surface navigation. A barrier reef roughly parallels the land but is some distance
               offshore, with deeper water intervening.
             REFERENCED    – Bearings and distances from a monument to described or identified points to be used for future
               corner point determination are said to be  “referenced.”
             REFERENCE MONUMENT        – An iron post or rock cap accessory used where the point for a corner monument is
               such that, for practical purposes, a permanent corner monument cannot be established, or if monumented, a full
               complement of bearing trees or bearing objects are not obtainable.
             REGIMEN   – The condition of a stream and its channel with respect to stability. A river or canal is  “in regimen”  if its
               channel has reached a stable form as a result of its flow characteristics.
             REGIONS (BLM)   – From 1946 until the mid 1950’s, the direction of the public land surveys was conducted through
               regional offices of the Bureau of Land Management. The original regions were:
               1.  Washington, Oregon & Idaho (Headquarters, Portland, Oregon)
               2.  California & Nevada (Headquarters, San Francisco, California)
               3.  Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa & Missouri (Headquarters, Billings,
               Montana)
               4.  Utah & Colorado (Headquarters, Salt lake City, Utah)
               5.  Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas & Louisiana (Headquarters, Albuquerque, New Mexico)

               6.  the remaining states (headquarters, Washington D.C.)
               7.  Alaska (Headquarters, Anchorage, Alaska)
               In 1950, the Bureau of Land Management prepared a wall chart showing that Region 6 had been increased to
               include Iowa & Missouri (from Region 3) and Arkansas & Louisiana (from Region 5). Alaska was a territory during
               the period in which BLM regions existed. See AREAS (BLM).
             REGISTER   – An official in the General Land Office who was in charge of a land office subordinate to that agency.
                             “register”
               The reference to       was changed to  “officer designated by the Secretary of the Interior”  under the 1946
               reorganization plan which created the Bureau of Land Management. See MANAGER and REGISTER*.
             REGISTERING (Deeds)   – The main object of the registration or recording of deeds is to give constructive notice of
               such conveyance to purchasers and creditors. A deed may be valid between the grantor and grantee but will fail to
               give constructive notice to others if not so registered or recorded.
             REGRESS  – The right to return to land. See EGRESS and INGRESS.
             REGULAR CORNER      – Corners which are established or indicated by the survey according to the normal plan of the
               rectangular system.
             REGULAR ORDER     – The prescribed procedure and method of establishing the rectangular system of surveys.
             REGULAR SECTION     – A section whose boundaries, as returned on the original survey, are within 21’ of cardinal
               and with 25 links from each 40 chains in measurement. See REGULAR SECTION SUBDIVISION and REGULAR
               SUBDIVISIONS OF A SECTION.
             REGULAR SECTION SUBDIVISION       – The plan whereby a section is divided into the maximum number of aliquot
               parts. See ALIQUOT PARTS, SUBDIVISION-OF-SURVEY and REGULAR SECTION.
             REGULAR SUBDIVISION OF A SECTION       – The aliquot parts. See ALIQUOT PARTS.
             REGULAR TOWNSHIP      – A township which is surveyed with four complete boundaries every part of which is within
               allowable limits and is subdivided into 36 sections according to the regular method of subdivision.
             REGULATION IRON POST      – See IRON POST.
             REHABILITATION    – The restoration of a corner monument or its accessories to original conditions but not the
               addition of new accessories or any altering of the record. See REMONUMENTATION.
             REIMBURSABLE SURVEY      – A survey or resurvey authorized by law and made with BLM funds which are repaid,
               according to the terms of written agreements.
             RELEASED RAILROAD CLAIMS       – The lands any potential claim to which was relinquished by railroads pursuant
               to the Transportation Act of 1940, viz, all railroad grant lands within the primary limits of the unadjusted railroad
               grants for which a patent or its equivalent had not been issued and all public lands within the indemnity limits of
               such grants which might have been available for the selection by the railroads in satisfaction of their grants. The
               railroads did not relinquish rights to lands for which they had received patents (or their equivalent) or which they
               had sold to bona fide purchasers prior to September 18, 1940.
             RELICTION   – The gradual and imperceptible recession of the water resulting in an uncovering of land once
               submerged. Also known as dereliction. See ACCRETION.
             RELICTION, ARTIFICIAL    – A recession of the waters of a stream or lake uncovering riparian land where the
               recession was caused or induced by man’s activities.
             RELOCATION    – The legal appropriation of a claim previously staked and held by either the relocator or another. The
               term implies that there was a former mining location which once had legal significance but has become open to
               forfeiture by abandonment, laches or the like. The burden of proof is on the relocator. See CLAIM JUMPING.
             REMANDER    – To establish new meanders along a riparian boundary replacing previous meanders.
             REMEASUREMENT      – A term applied to a survey made for the purpose of verifying or determining distances as
               opposed to a retracement, which is done to verify or determine both bearings and distances. It also differs from a
               resurvey, which is the rerunning and remarking of lines represented in the field notes and on the plat of a previous
               official survey. See RESURVEY and RETRACEMENT.
             REMONUMENTATION       – The construction of a corner monument (iron post, rock cap or concrete monument) at the
               position of an original monument as determined from proper measurement from its original accessories. New
               accessories may be added if required. See REHABILITATION and PERPETUATION OF CORNERS.
             REMONUMENTATION PROGRAM          – A cooperative effort to remonument survey corners which are in danger of
               becoming lost. This program is restricted to National Forest Lands and certain, designated, BLM Districts. Many
               State and local agencies have similar programs in their areas of authority.
             REMOTE UPLAND OWNER        – One whose land is immediately upland from that owned by a riparian owner. See
               RIPARIAN OWNER.

             REPRESENTATIVE FRACTION       – A fraction expressing scale in which the numerator is unity and the denominator
               is the number that the unit distance must be multiplied by in order to obtain its distance on the ground in the same
               units. For example, 1/12,000. Also seen as 1:12,000 and 1-12,000.
             RESERVATION    – A withdrawal, usually of a permanent nature; also, any Federal lands which have been dedicated to
               a specified public purpose. See MINERAL RESERVATION.
             RESERVED LAND     – Federal lands which are dedicated or set aside for a specific public purpose or program, and
               which are, therefore, generally not subject to disposition under the operation of all of the public land laws.
             RESERVOIR-SITE RESERVE      – A reservation of public lands which have potential value as a site for a water
               storage reservoir.
             RESIDUAL ERROR     – 1) The total error of closure of a traverse. 2) In mathematics, the difference between as
               observed value of a series and its corresponding adjusted value. 3) Any remaining error after all adjustments are
               made.
             RES JUDICATA   – A matter settled by judgment. The rule of  “res judicata”  is that a matter once judicially decided is
               finally decided. The plea of  “res judicata”  is an  “estoppel”  against the losing party from again litigating matters
               involved in previous action, but does not have that effect in matters which occurred later and which were not at issue
               in the prior action. See ESTOPPEL and STARE DECISIS.
             RESOURCE AREA (BLM)     – The primary subdivision of a BLM District. It is composed of at least two (typically five
               to eight) planning units and intermingled and adjoining lands such as National Parks, National Forests, Indian
               Reservations, Military Reservations and private lands. It is under the administration of an Area Manager.
             RESPONDENT    – See APPELLEE.
             RESTORATION    – 1) The purpose of a resurvey; the recovery of one or more lines or corner positions, or both, of a
               prior approved survey; or the replacement of one or more lost corners or obliterated monuments by approved
               methods, including the substantial renewal of one or more monuments, as required for the purpose of a survey. 2) A
               revocation of a withdrawal which also effects the opening of the public lands in the withdrawal. Also, an action
               which returns ceded Indian lands to tribal ownership. See RESURVEY, DEPENDENT RESURVEY and
               INDEPENDENT RESURVEY.
             RESTORATION OF MEANDERS        – The reestablishment of original meanders. See REMANDER.
             RESTRICTED DEED, ALASKA      – A deed which is issued to an Alaska Indian or Eskimo for land claimed by him in
               an Alaskan trustee town site and which contains a proviso that the land is inalienable except with the approval of the
               Secretary of the Interior.
             RESURVEY   – A term applied to the reestablishment or restoration of land boundaries and subdivisions by the
               rerunning and remaking of the lines that were represented in the field note record and on the plat of the previous
               official survey. This includes, as in the original survey, a field note record of the retracement data, observations,
               measurements and monuments descriptive of the work performed, and a plat that represents such resurvey, all
               subject to the approval of the directing authority. The above definition is intended or implied unless modified as in
               an Independent Resurvey or in some other appropriate manner. The adjective  “dependent”  applied to the term
               “resurvey”  is for emphasis, and specifically to suggest the recovery and restoration of the prior official survey. See
               DEPENDENT RESURVEY, INDEPENDENT RESURVEY, RETRACEMENT, RESTORATION
               REMEASUREMENT and RESURVEY*.
             RETRACEMENT     – A survey made to ascertain the direction and length of lines and to identify monuments and marks
               of an established prior survey. Recovered corners are rehabilitated, but lost corners are not restored and lines
               through timber are not reblazed. See RESURVEY and REMEASUREMENT.
             RETURNED    – Areas and/or boundaries of the public lands which are described in the approved field notes and appear
               on the accepted plat of an official survey are said to be  “returned.”
             RETURNS   – Official reports. In cadastral survey parlance, the  “returns”  are the field notes, report and approved plat
               of a survey. See FIELD RETURNS and FINAL RETURNS.
             REVERSION CLAUSE     – A clause in an order of withdrawal providing that the lands shall revert to their former status
               after they have served the purpose for which they are withdrawn; also, a clause in a patent providing that title to the
               lands shall revert to the United States upon failure of the patentee to use the lands for the purposes stated in the
               patent.
             REVESTED LANDS     – Lands once granted and later forfeited and returned to Federal ownership by Congressional
               revestment of title. See O & C LANDS.
             REVISED STATUTES    – A body of statutes which have been reviewed, re-examined, rearranged or otherwise
               improved, and have been collected, arranged in order and re-enacted as a whole. In 1873, all of the general and
               permanent laws of the United States then in force were arranged by subject under 74 headings and enacted into law
               by Congress. This compilation was corrected and superceded by another codification of the laws in 1878. The 1878
               codification is known as the  Revised Statutes.  The sections of the Revised Statutes are numbered consecutively.
               When cited, the section number should follow the abbreviation  R.S.  Thus, R.S. 2478 is a citation to section 2478 of
               the Revised Statues. A citation to the Revised Statutes is always understood to refer to the codification of 1878, See
               UNITED STATES STATUTES AT LARGE, UNITED STATES CODE and CODE OF FEDERAL
               REGULATIONS.
             REVOCATION    – Generally, an action which cancels a previous official act; specifically, an action which cancels a
               withdrawal.
             RHUMB LINE*
             RIDGE TOP   – The highest part of a range of hills or mountains; an elongated crest or a linear series of peaks or crests.
               The highest elevations of a divide or the top of a ridge are often used for boundaries. See DIVIDE,
               HYDROGRAPHIC DIVIDE and CONTINENTAL DIVIDE.
             RIGHT BANK (River)  – The bank on the right-hand side of a stream or river as one faces downstream.
             RIGHT LINE   – An obsolete term for  “True Line”  or for a straight line between corners. The term is found in Manuals
               of Surveying Instruction as recently as 1894.
             RIGHT OF WAY    – The legal right to cross the lands of another. Also used to indicate the strip of land for a road,
               railroad or power line. In BLM, a permit or an easement which authorizes the use of public lands for certain
               specified purposes, commonly for pipe lines, roads, telephone lines or power lines. Also, the lands covered by such
               an easement or permit.
             RIPARIAN   – From the Latin “ripa” meaning river bank.
             RIPARIAN BOUNDARIES     – Water boundaries, or boundaries formed by a river, lake or the sea. The general rule is
               that riparian boundaries shift with changes due to accretion or erosion but retain their original location if brought
               about by avulsion or by artificial causes. See ACCRETION, AVULSION, RELICTION, EROSION, RIVER BED
               and LITTORAL.
             RIPARIAN LANDS    – In strict interpretation, lands bordering on a river. The term  “riparian”  is also used as relating
               to the shore of the sea or other tidal water, or of a lake or other considerable body of water not having the character
               of a watercourse.
             RIPARIAN LAW    – The branch of the law which deals with the rights in land bordering on a river, lake or sea.
             RIPARIAN OWNER     – One who owns land having a boundary defined by a water course. Usage has broadened the
               term to include land along the sea or other tidal water, or along the shore of a lake or other considerable body of
               water. Strictly speaking, the correct term for lands bordering the sea, or other tidal water, is  “littoral.”  See
               LITTORAL.
             RIPARIAN RIGHTS    – The rights of an owner of land bordering on a river, lake, bayou, or sea which relate to the
               water (its use), ownership of the shore, right of ingress and egress, accretions, etc.
             RIPARIAN RIGHTS ENTRY     – An owner of contiguous land may be permitted to make such an entry of public lands
               when, due to erroneous meandering of a river, lake, or other body of water, public lands are shown on the original
               survey plat as water-covered areas.
             ROD  – One rod equals 16.5 feet or 25 links. Also termed  “perch”  or  “pole”  in older surveys.
             ROOD   – A square measure equal to ¼ acre or 40 sq. rods. The term rood was sometimes used also for a linear measure
               varying locally from 5½ yd. To 8 yd..
             RULE OF APPROXIMATION      – A purely administrative expedient intended to equitably decide whether an
               entryman could obtain patent to more than the area provided by the Preemption and Homestead laws, still
               maintaining the contiguity of tract entered. Where the excess is less than the deficiency would be if the smallest
               legal subdivision is excluded from the entry then it is allowed to stand. (See 8 LD 205). Thus, if an entryman selects
               surveyed lands in excess of the statutory amount, say 175 acres, the Rule would allow him to pay for and receive the
               excess fifteen acres under certain conditions. The principle condition is that the excess cannot exceed the deficiency
               which would occur if the smallest legal subdivision were disallowed. The Rule would not be applied if the entryman
               had made substantial improvements to the tract disallowed and the differences were small (27 LD 78). The final
               selection was required to be one continuous tract after application of the Rule.
               If, in the sample, the selection included aliquot parts containing 40, 40.50, 65 and 29.50 acre lots totaling 175 acres,
               the 29.50 acre lot would be disallowed because 40 + 40.50 + 65 = 145.50 which is deficient by only 14.5 acres
               whereas the excess was 15 acres. The Rule does not apply to the mining laws except placer claims filed by legal
               subdivisions of 10 acres, (34 ID 9). It does not apply to claims in unsurveyed areas, (28 ID 149). See 43 CFR
               2731.6-1 concerning acreage limitations and the application of the rule of approximation in the matter of small
               tracts. See DE MINIMIS NON CURAT LEX.
             RULE OF THALWEG     – In river boundaries, the rule which holds that where a navigable river separates two nations,
               the middle of the main channel is the boundary between them, as distinguished from the geographic middle of the

               river, per Shalowitz. The rule of thalweg has also been applied to other boundaries where the boundary is described
               as being the  “middle (or center) of the main channel”  of a navigable river. See THALWEG, MEDIUM FILUM
               ACQUAE, GRADIENT BOUNDARY and MEDIAL LINE.
             RULE OF TIDEMARK     – A baseline for determination of coastal boundaries which follows the sinuosities of the low
               water mark except where true bays are encountered.
             RULES OF PRACTICE    – Certain orders made by the courts for the purpose of regulating the proceedings before
               them.
             RUSSIAN MEASURES     –
               1 archine = 28 inches = 0.71120 meters = 16 verskops.
               1 sagene = 3 archines.
               500 sagenes = 1 verst.
               1 dessiatine = 2,400 sq. sagenes = 2.6997 acres.

T Terms

             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
                                                                               o
               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.
             TREATY WITH SPAIN, 1819    – The treaty of February 22, 1819, settled conflicting claims between the United States
               and Spain concerning East and West Florida. The third article of the treaty defines the boundary between the United
               States and the Spanish possessions in the Southwest. The western boundary of the United States south of the 42nd
               parallel, as fixed by this treaty, was confirmed by treaty with Mexico on January 12, 1828, since by that time
               Mexico had gained independence from Spain.
             TRESPASS   – An unlawful act causing injury to rights or property of another. As used in BLM, an unauthorized use of
               federal lands or resources.
             TRIANGULATION STATION      – A marked and/or described point whose position has been determined by
               triangulation. The usage has broadened to include any precise control station.
             TRUE  – 1) The correct value, as distinguished from an assumed value or approximate value. 2) An adjective applied to
               bearings indicating astronomic or geodetic values. See TRUE LINE.
             TRUE LINE  – A line of constant bearing (Rhumb Line) between two corners of a survey.
             TRUSTEE DEED    – A deed which is issued by the trustee in connection with the sale in Alaska of a town lot in a
               trustee town site.
             TRUSTEE TOWN SITE, Alaska    – An area of public land in Alaska which has been segregated for disposal as an
               urban development, the town lots which are sold by a trustee appointed by the Secretary of Interior.
             TRUST PATENT    – See PATENT, TRUST.
             TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS        – Islands in the western Pacific; the Caroline, Marshall and
               Mariana (except Guam) Groups. Formerly under Japanese mandate, they were placed under the administration of the
               United States Department of the Interior through an agreement with the United Nations following World War II.
             T-SHEET  – A topographic map or chart prepared by the former Coast and Geodetic Survey, and now by the National
               Ocean Survey, including the manuscript copy. The topographic map is identified with a number, prefixed with the
               letter T, such as T-5542. As now prepared they are prefixed  “TP”  (topographic-photogrammetric). The term  “T-
               Sheet”  is an inhouse expression to denote such maps and charts.
             TUNNEL   – In mining, a lateral or horizontal passage underground intended to reach the vein or mineral deposit, where
               a drift may begin. See DRIFT, SHAFT and ADIT.
             TUNNEL LOCATIONS     – Tunnel sites are acquired in accordance with local rules and customs, but may not exceed
               3000 feet as imposed by Federal law. When a lode is discovered within a tunnel, the owner is called upon to make a
               surface location of the vein or lode as required by law. Discontinuing operations for 6 months constitutes
               abandonment of all right to the veins along the line of the tunnel.
             TURNING POINT    – In meandering, or in any irregular survey,  “turning point”  is synonymous with  “angle point.”  In
               leveling, however,  “turning point”  refers to an intermediate point of known elevation in a level circuit.
             TWENTY-FOUR-MILE TRACTS       – The largest unit in the rectangular system of surveys. Each area controlled by a
               principal meridian and a base line is divided into tracts by means of standard parallels or correction lines (true
               parallels of latitude) located at intervals of 24 miles to the north and south of the base line and by means of guide
               meridians (true meridians) spaced at intervals of 24 miles east and west of the principal meridian. Because of the
               convergence of the meridians, the distance between the guide meridians is 24 miles only at the starting points; at all
               other points, the distance is less by the amount of the convergence. Twenty-four-mile tracts were first specified in
               the 1881 Manual of Surveying Instructions.

U Terms

             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.
                                                                          o
               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 Terms

             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 Terms

             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 speciman 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
                                                                          o
               Mexico and Utah were referred to the Washington Meridian, which is 77  03’02” .3 west of Greenwich, according to
                                                                                                  o
               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 Terms

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

Z Terms

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 Zmax.net surveying system from Magellan quite a few times (link to manufacturer).