Land Subdivision Triangle
Iola Abstract Company
Frank W. Thompson, Mgr.

This advertising triangle would be used by anyone trying to describe or locate land surveyed under the "U.S. Public Land Surveys" law. These laws were established for this starting in 1796. It was first administered by the GLO (General Land Office) which later became the Bureau of Land Management. This rectangular survey system applies to all states except the original 13 states, Hawaii, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. This system subdivided land into somewhat square pacels of land. It first divided the land into 6 mile square townships and ranges. Each of these was then subdivided into 1 square mile "Sections". There were usually 36 in each township/range. The large square on the triange represents a "Section". All of the little squares and rectangles show how the section could be subdivided and how each would be described with the acres of each.

Along the edges are distance scales. One in what is called "chains", one in 1 inch equals 50 feet, and one in which 1 inch equals 100 feet. These were used to lay out property drawings. The original surveys were measured in chains. A chain is equal to 66 feet. The measuring device was actually a chain with 100 links in it. Measurements were made in chains and links.

There are also many conversion values on the triangle. They show how to convert chains to feet, acres to square feet, etc. The triangle was a very useful tool to anyone doing land descriptions, drawing property plans, or locating property from a map or drawing.