Township (twp)

US land surveyTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

36 sections: a square 6 survey miles on a side (23,040 acres). Used in US land records.

1 township = 93,239,944.93 square meters (approximately).

About the township

Western descriptions of land such as T2N, R3E refer to townships in the survey sense: a block six miles on a side, nominally 36 square miles or 23,040 acres. T counts six-mile steps north or south of a baseline, while R counts six-mile steps east or west of a principal meridian. Each region's grid hangs from an initial point where the two meet, and one meridian can serve several states, as the Willamette Meridian does for Oregon and Washington.

Meridians converge toward the pole, so townships would shrink to the north if nothing were done. Surveyors therefore laid standard parallels, commonly every 24 or 30 miles, to reset the width. The first lands laid out this way were the Seven Ranges in eastern Ohio, and Jefferson is credited with promoting the system to support a country of independent farmers. A survey township is distinct from a civil township, which is a unit of local government in about 20 states and may follow the survey lines or ignore them.

Sources: Wikipedia: Township (United States); Wikipedia: Public Land Survey System

Township conversion chart

1 township expressed in every other area unit:

More US land survey units

• US survey acre (area)
• section (area)
• US survey foot (length)
• US survey mile (length)

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