(north being top of the page, south being bottom, east being right and west being left) The Northeast Quarter is the top, right fourth of the section. Did you figure it out? Divide the section into four equal quarters - north and south line through the center of the section and the east and west line through the center of the section. Staying in the very top right hand corner, here is a simple legal description: The Northeast Quarter of Section 4, Township 66 North, Range 33 West.

If you go to the very top right hand corner of the map below, you will be able to see R34W|R33W along the top and then T67N|T66N just a little ways down the right side. LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS ARE ALWAYS READ BACKWARDS If a legal says the south half of the northeast quarter, then in the section you would first find the northeast quarter, then cut the section in half and you would have the south half of the northeast quarter. A fourth of a quarter section would be 40 acres.

Half of a quarter section would be 80 acres. Each one-fourth of a section contains 160 acres. Then each quarter can also be divided into quarters, and so on. A section is divided into four quarters - the northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest. But in legal descriptions, the reference to the specific parallel is not mentioned and I don't know why.ĪCRES - a section (one square mile) consists of 640 acres. The same applies to the Township, being its proximity to the closet parallel, either north of it or south of it. When a Range states that it is West, then it is describing it proximity to the closet Meridian, being 'whatever the number' (ie 33) West of the 5th PM, then it would be 33 - six mile blocks West of the 5th PM. Townships are designated either North or South and Ranges are designated either East or West. Trying to describe the parallels is more difficult and I won't get into that. Missouri is West of the 5th Principal Meridian. Legal descriptions are based on the location of the land from the meridians and parallels. A geographical township is a six square mile area consisting of 36 sections, and are number 1 through 36. The political townships are those that are given names. A 'political' township is different from a 'geographical' township.

You may want to download it and then pull it up in your own choice of graphics program or you can open a new window in your brower and view the image that way.Ī section is a one sqaure mile track of land. This is a section of a Nodaway County, Missouri Plat Map which is the very northeast part of the county.

How to read township and range maps