Odd Lots in Township 34 North, Range 6 West, Section 2, Missouri

Here is another interesting example of odd lots in the United States Public Land Survey System in Missouri.

image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey

This image comes from the "new" General Land Office (GLO) township plat for Township 34 North, Range 6 West of the Fifth Principal Meridian in Missouri.

It is dated November 30, 1861

image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey

and is signed by William Cuddy, Surveyor General for Missouri and Illinois

image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey

Upon first examination of Section 2, other than the section being long, there is really nothing that would attract our attention or lead us to believe that there might be something amiss. If you look closely, however, there are some details that are not consistent from Section 1 to Section 2 to Section 3. You will notice that Lots 1 through 6 in the Northwest quarter of Sections 2 are all shown as being 80.00 acres. You will also notice that there is no dimension on the west side of these lots.

Now, looking at Sections 1 and 3, you will notice that the lots in the Northwest quarter of these sections have acreages that are something other than 80.00 acres and the west sides of Lots 1 through 6 are all dimensioned as 20.00 chains. Doesn't that seem a little strange? Perhaps we should investigate further.

When we look for the "old" General Land Office township plat for Township 34 North, Rang 6 West, we find the following:

image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey

This township plat is dated January 1, 1822

image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey

and is signed by Elisha Sims for William H. Ashley, the contracted Deputy Surveyor

image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey

As we look at this "old" township plat, we see that there is additional information that was not included on the "new" township plat. Lots 1 through 6 of the Northwest quarter of Section 2 are here dimensioned so as to achieve an acreage of 80.00 acres.  Why?

Looking in the margin of this "old" township plat, we find an explanation:

image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey

Although Section 2 does not have a red letter "S", we are informed that there was a sale that occurred prior to the calculation of acreages in this section.

To find out more about the sequence of sales in the Northwest quarter of Section 2, we can search for patent information at www.glorecords.blm.gov. The results are as follows:

Lot 6            80.00 acres   William Thornton    1841 Jul 01
West 1/2 Lot 5   40.00 acres   Ephraim F. Bressie  1841 Dec 10
East 1/2 Lot 4   40.00 acres   Ephraim F. Bressie  1849 Apr 10
East 1/2 Lot 3   40.00 acres   Andrew J. Riley     1851 Nov 01
East 1/2 Lot 1   40.00 acres   John P. Riley       1854 Nov 15
East 1/2 Lot 2   40.00 acres   John P. Riley       1854 Nov 15
East 1/2 Lot 5   40.00 acres   Ephraim F. Bressie  1855 Jun 15
East 1/2 Lot 7   46.99 acres   John P. Riley       1856 Jan 03
West 1/2 Lot 7   45.97 acres   Josiah Welch        1856 Jan 03
West 1/2 Lot 3   40.00 acres   John P. Riley       1856 Oct 10
West 1/2 Lot 1   40.00 acres   William Riley       1857 Apr 15
West 1/2 Lot 2   40.00 acres   Andrew J. Riley     1857 Apr 15
West 1/2 Lot 4   40.00 acres   Andrew J. Riley     1857 Apr 15

From this information we see that Lot 6 was patented for 80 acres and the West 1/2 of Lot 5 was patented for 40 acres in 1841, before the acreages were calculated in the Surveyor General's office in 1847. As a result, the acreages in the Northwest quarter of Section 2 were not calculated as they were in Sections 1 and 3, but rather were calculated to conform to the previous sales.

You will also notice that all of the Northwest quarter of Section 2 was patented by April 1857, which precedes the production of the "new" township plat in 1861.


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original composition by Steven E. Weible