That to correctly survey a 40 acre tract such as the NW 1/4 of the SE 1/4 (see figure I ) requires a survey of almost the entire section?

Consider the minimum steps that are necessary:

a. Recover original government corners 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 (these corners set by federal government surveyors in the early 1800's.

b. Establish the center of the section (point A) which is the intersection of a straight line between points 4 and 8, and 6 and 2.

c. Establish 1/16 corners B. C, D. and E: for example: B being exactly midway between A and 2, etc.

d. Establish SE 1/16 corner (F) which is the intersection of straight lines between point B and D, and C and E.

The above steps are necessary to locate the four corners of the NW 1/4 of the SE 1/4. Since most sections have dimensions such as in Figure 2 (exaggerated to show that the lines are not straight nor parallel, due to difficulties encountered in the original surveys), it follows that the distance around a"40" will not always be 1320', nor will the sides be at right angles to each other.