 Early property descriptions recorded in the United States were often imprecise and included information about surrounding natural and built features. This system of describing land location is called Meats and Bounds, which is common for property located in a state that was one of the original 13 colonies, or in western states there were independent republics like Texas. In other parts of the United States, land is described using the General Land Office, or GLO system of land division. The GLO system, started in the late 1700s, divides property into acres and fractions of acres, and location is described using sections, townships, and ranges. Reading or reporting the legal description using the GLO township and range system can be a little confusing at first, but with some practice it can start to make sense. The following are some definitions you need to know to help you understand how to interpret a legal description. Acre. An area of land that equals 43,560 square feet. This may be a square that is 208.71 feet on each side, or any other dimension that equals 43,560 square feet. Section. Roughly square area that encompasses 640 acres each, or roughly a mile by a mile. Sections are divided into 16 40-acre parcels, each referred to as a 40. Township. A geographic reference running north and south used to define property locations for deeds and grants is established by the GLO. A survey township is nominally 6 by 6 miles square, or 23,040 acres. Range. A measure of distance east or west from a referenced principal meridian in units of 6 miles. When reading a legal description the first thing to remember is that they are written from the smallest part of the parcel, including quarter sections, then the section number and then the township and then the range. Let's determine the legal description of the Dixie Lookout Tower on the Dixie USGS Topo Map. Please note that legal descriptions on deeds will be much more specific than what is shown here, but it is best to start by understanding how to interpret basic structure of the GLO system. When we find the Dixie Lookout Tower we see it is in section 14, and if we break that section into quarters it is in the southwest quarter of section 14. We then need to determine the township and range. If we move up on the map we see the township line designation. Everything south of that line on this map is in township 2 north. Everything north of that line is in township 3 north. Since the fire tower is south of this line it is in township 2 north. Now we need to determine the range. We see that we have range 13 east and range 14 east represented on this map. Since the lookout tower is to the west of this line it falls in range 13 east. So putting it all together the legal description for the Dixie Lookout Tower would be the southwest one quarter of section 14 township 2 north range 13 east.