
Johnson and his company, Johnson & Scofield, Inc., have been contracted by Wabasha County since around 2003 to complete this time-consuming project. He's also been collecting coordinate values for each of the PLSS monuments throughout Wabasha County. Marcus Johnson, Wabasha County Surveyor, has been working to locate and re-establish PLSS monuments that have been lost or destroyed. Several agencies are also in the process of scanning and publishing the GLO field notes and publishing them online. The surveys, also known as GLO (General Land Office) Maps, can be viewed and downloaded here. Croix and Mississippi rivers or in the southeastern corner of Minnesota. These surveys, completed between 1848 and May 1857 were primarily on land located between the St. The earliest land surveys in Minnesota were conducted under the jurisdiction of the Surveyor General of Iowa and Wisconsin, headquartered in Dubuque, Iowa. Previous to the Public Land Survey System, land was surveyed using a confusing landmark-based system called metes and bounds. Surveyed land was sold by the government, providing important revenue for the cash-starved nation. Now known as the Public Land Survey System, this system divided the western lands into grid-shaped townships and sections. The rectangular survey system was enacted by the Land Ordinance Act of 1785. Originally proposed by Thomas Jefferson, the PLSS began shortly after the Revolutionary War, when the Federal government became responsible for large areas west of the thirteen original colonies.

Monuments are also placed at quarter-section corners and at other important points, such as the corners of government lots. Normally, a permanent monument, or marker, is placed at each section corner. Sections can be further subdivided into quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections, or irregular government lots. Townships are subdivided into 36 one-mile- square sections. The PLSS typically divides land into 6-mile-square townships.

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a way of subdividing and describing land in the United States.
