Download table glossary

Township: The largest subdivision of land in the Public Land Survey System, measuring six miles square.  Public Land Survey System townships do not correspond to political townships.  Public Land Survey townships are named by the township and range numbering system.  Each township has a township number, which indicates its north-south position of the base line, and a range number, which indicates its east-west position of the meridian.

Range: Public Land Survey townships are named by the township and range numbering system.  The range number indicates east or west position from a longitudinal meridian.

Litoral: Designates east or west direction from principal meridian

Plat Type:  Type of plat represented in image, as described below:

            Independent:  The first government survey of lands.  The original survey or a survey not dependent on the original.

            Dependent:  A later survey dependent upon information gathered in the original survey.  To create a dependent survey, the surveyors return to the
                                   field.
            Island:  A later survey of islands.  For the original surveys, islands were sometimes skipped and then surveyed later.  

Scan Side:  The side of the original map that is represented in the scanned file.  Most maps are front side scans but the back side of maps that included information, mainly meanders, was also scanned when applicable.

MHS Plat ID:  Identification number assigned to each map by the Minnesota History Center.

Survey Date:  Date the original survey was completed.