Note that each grid square is 1 mile by 1 mile. Long history of that, it is an interesting historical rabbit hole.
An interesting historical note is that across much of the west, each of those mile square sections was divided up into 16 pieces at 40-acres, which IIRC was the smallest unit of land you could purchase from the federal government.
You'll still find a lot of old homestead remnants across the west -- I used to climb through a few of them on a ranch I spent time at as a kid.
An interesting historical note is that across much of the west, each of those mile square sections was divided up into 16 pieces at 40-acres, which IIRC was the smallest unit of land you could purchase from the federal government.
You'll still find a lot of old homestead remnants across the west -- I used to climb through a few of them on a ranch I spent time at as a kid.
See:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_(United_States_land_su...
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Ordinance_of_1785