When you were schooled about geographical correction lines? It was in no curriculum,but one teacher felt he should cover it…Im not jabbing the flat earners here…

Are you talking about correction lines on a large scale like on a globe or small scale like property lines? I guess ultimately, they are basically the same.

Every 6 miles there might be a jog in a longitudinal line….sometimes resulting in short forties and government lots.

Yes, every township has one. There is one on my Southern property line. Then we get into "declination" (I think that is what it is called). The property lines established here 50+ years ago have "moved" to the West. On my far East property line that amounted to about 60 feet. Property lines and fence lines no longer match up. The lines on some small lake lots moved enough that part of peoples homes or cabins are no longer on their property. I will wait for Zim to chime in with a better explanation.

If surveyed correctly the first time using true north, property lines will not move. Magnetic north does change over time but not true north. The original government surveyors would take a bearing on the North Star every night it wasn’t too cloudy to do so to keep their true north bearing.

Crap, I’d say grade 7 or 8. Wasn’t like it was on a test or anything, just something the teacher pointed out.

The age has not yet come for me

I refer to that era as my "senior year".

Can't say as I don't ever remember any linage lessons in school !!

The best example is when roads running on section lines take a zigzag on the correction line, seen it a lot in SD

Same here

as you travel straight south,for instance, the jog would allow for the circumference of the earth becoming greater (add in a section in that lateral) and start over with a new londtitudinal for the next 6 miles going south. So as to facilitate putting straight lines on a sphere.

None of this in the South. We got too many swamps to go around.

x2

Basically correction lines were established every 4 townships (24 miles) north and south from a base line to allow surveyors to lay out a flat survey (square mile) on a curved surface (earth).

In most parts of the US where there was a "government" survey, government township was 6 miles north and south and also 6 miles east and west. Government townships six miles square.......so 36 sections per township. Correction sections along top and down west side. NE and NW quarters are where the corrections happen on north side.........and are described as "lots". NW and SW quarters are where the corrections happen along west side of township, also described as lots. There are some correction section 6's in MO that have over 2,000 acres in them.

In eastern US mostly described by metes and bounds surveys. "Beginning at a point......, thence......."

As to when all this was learned, I doubt 1 person in 10,000 (or far less than that even) is even aware such a thing exists. Everybody knows about those jogs in the road as they drive thru them all the time, but nobody gives it a second thought as to why they are there.

I don’t know what this is.

That exactly. If not swamps in flat south it's ridges and hollers in the upland south. That and we got more people and ours tends to get split up more. Platt maps full of big rectangles with a bunch of smaller rectangles and triangles chopped up inside. Seems like down here everyone has a great grandmother that once owned thousands but some aunt or cousin came along and took it or split it up.

I've always assumed that is the reason why some midwest states have their counties laid out in squares but the lines, particularly the north south lines, have odd offsets. Like in this photo of Iowa.



My understanding is north south needs more correction the further north or south it gets.

No idea i remember my Dad showing me how to read platt descriptions so if it came up in school it would have been mid 60's making me about 12