Lecture Notes: Subdividing Land and Acreage

Basic Concepts

• Section: A square that is one mile by one mile.
  • Area of one section is one square mile.
• Acre: A smaller unit of area.
  • One square mile equals 640 acres.
  • Useful for understanding land areas reported in news (e.g., fires).

Subdivision of Land

• Government Land Sales:
  • Land was divided into smaller areas for sale.
  • Sold as "quarter sections."

Quarter Sections

• Division:
  • Each section divided into four quarters (compass points: NE, NW, SW, SE).
  • Each quarter section is half a mile by half a mile.
  • Area: 160 acres (640 acres divided by 4).

Challenges of Uniform Division

• Climate Variation Ignored:
  • Same division method used everywhere, not accounting for climate.
  • Results varied based on location (e.g., Ohio Valley vs. Bakersfield).

Further Subdivision

• Quarter-Quarter Sections:
  • Each quarter section can be divided into four more.
  • Resulting in 40-acre plots.
  • Known in literature and culture (e.g., "northeast 40").

Land Use and Development

• Agriculture:

  • Farmers subdivided land into fields.
  • Grow different crops for rotation and sustenance.

• Transportation:

  • Section boundaries used for travel.
  • Developed into tracks, trails, and eventually roads.
  • Modern roads often paved over these paths.

Expansion into Urban Areas

• City Planning:
  • Same section pattern evident in urban development.
  • Development follows section boundaries and midlines.
  • Example: Long Beach roads (e.g., Lakewood, Clarke, Bellflower).

Summary

• The lecture outlines how land was systematically divided and sold in the past.
• Importance of understanding acres and sections for both historical and contemporary land use and urban development.
• Grid-like road systems influenced by original land subdivision methods.