Alberta Township System

Establishing a system of examination for new aspirants to the title of "Dominion Land Surveyor" was officially adopted in 1874.

On it lay off 6-mile-6-chain (9.8 km) ticks westwards starting at the 110th line of longitude (4th DLS meridian).

Starting at the 49th parallel (first base line) go 24 miles 12 chains (38.9 km) directly north.

The circumference of the earth has decreased as you went northwards, so there will be fewer full ticks than there were one base line south.

All this will result in a mesh of cells nominally six miles (plus 3 or 6 chains for road allowances) on a side.

Use the same process to subdivide sections into legal subdivisions (LSD) except place the tick at the one-quarter waypoints.