Land Descriptions – Part 3
February 20, 2017
Continuing in our exploration of land descriptions, in general there are categories known as the “unsystematic” and the “systematic”, today we will briefly talk about the unsystematic. Unsystematic land descriptions are found primarily in the areas of the original thirteen colonies and in States where land grants were made by Spain, Mexico and France; this applies to parts of our home state, Louisiana. Ownership tracts of every shape and size were sold to the original purchasers in a jigsaw puzzle type fashion. When land was readily available and of no great value, the overlaps and shortages that can occur in the unsystematic descriptions were of no great concern, however as land became more valuable boundary disputes became prevalent. As early as 1784 Thomas Jefferson proposed a division of all unoccupied land into uniform rectangular units which inspired the establishment of the Rectangular Survey System, we will talk about that tomorrow.
Those of you who routinely work in Louisiana will have seen examples of the irregular sections but I thought I would show everyone an example what we are talking about. Here is a map that I downloaded from the Bureau of Land Management, I just love old maps!
