Survey township

Virtually all lands covered by this system were sold according to those boundaries and are marked on the U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps.

Prior to standardization, some of the Ohio Lands (the United States Military District, the Firelands and the Connecticut Western Reserve) were surveyed into townships of 5 miles (8.0 km) on each side.

Stemming from that are the idiomatic expressions, "the lower 40", the 40 acres on a settler's land that is lowest in elevation, in the direction towards which water drains toward a stream, and the "back forty", the portion farthest from the settler's dwelling.

These townships include road allowances, so their nominal dimensions are a bit longer than six miles.

In the first and second phases of the survey (Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan), townships are nominally 489 chains (6.11 mi; 9.84 km) east-west and north-south.

1826 map of the Connecticut Western Reserve in northern Ohio showing both survey and civil townships. The survey townships are represented by the numbers (horizontal "town" and vertical "range" numbers), and the civil townships using the same boundaries are represented by the names.
1877 map of Warren County, Indiana . Of the civil townships shown on this map, only Pine Township in the north exactly matches a survey township with 36 sections.
Survey township: A. Township Line, B. Principal Meridian, C. Range Line, D. Initial Point, E. Base Line, and F. Township, according to BLM