What is the Township Survey System? What is a legal land description?

Any area within Alberta can be quickly located based on its legal land description. Legal land descriptions are based on the Alberta Township Survey (ATS) system. This survey system is a grid network that divides the province into equal-sze parcels of land throughout the province and across Western Canada.

How can I find a location or describe a particular location? 

For simplicity sake we will use the province of Alberta as a model for our description of how the ATS system works. Under the ATS, land is deignated as being west of the 4th, 5th, or 6th Meridians (110 degrees, 114 degrees and 118 degrees west longitude, respectively). Between meridians are six-mile wide columns called "ranges." Ranges are numbered consecutively from east to west starting at Range 1 west of each meridian. "Townships" are six-mile wide rows that intersect ranges and are numbered consecutively from Township 1 at the Montana/Alberta border to Township 126 at the Northwest Territories.

In addition to the township and range grid system the term township also describes the six by six mile square formed by the intersection of ranges and townships. Townships are divided into 36 sections, each section measuring one mile by one mile. Sections can then be divided into quarters (NE, NW, SE, SW), or into 16 legal subdivisions (LDSs), as indicated.

An example of how a legal land description is properly written out is:

          1- 85 - 16 - W5

     Sec.    Twp.     Rge.    Meridian

When ordering aerial photos or referencing a location this is the proper sequential order for the numbers.