Townships Dominion Land Survey

a part of dominion land survey (convergence of meridians exaggerated). shaded township township 17, range 8 west of third meridian.

starting @ each intersection of meridian , baseline , working west (also working east of first meridian , coast meridian), square townships surveyed, 6 miles (9.7 km) in both north–south , east–west extent. there 2 tiers of townships north , 2 tiers south of each baseline.

because east , west edges of townships, called range lines , meridians of longitude, converge towards north pole. therefore, north edge of every township shorter south. along baselines townships have nominal width east west. 2 townships north of baseline gradually narrow 1 moves north, , 2 south gradually widen 1 moves south. halfway between 2 base lines, wider-than-nominal townships abut narrower-than-nominal townships. east , west boundaries of these townships therefore not align, , north–south roads follow survey system have jog east or west. these east–west lines halfway between baselines called correction lines .

townships designated township number , range number . township 1 first north of first baseline, , numbers increase north. range numbers recommence range 1 @ each meridian , increase west (also east of first meridian , coast meridian). on maps, township numbers marked in arabic numerals, range numbers marked in roman numerals; however, in other contexts arabic numerals used both. individual townships designated such township 52, range 25 west of fourth meridian, abbreviated 52-25-w4. in manitoba, first meridian 1 used, abbreviations more terse, e.g., 3-1-w , 24-2-e. . in manitoba legislation, abbreviations wpm , epm used: 3-1 wpm , 24-2 epm .