Locate Homestead in Google Maps

You have your homestead record.
You understand the layout.
Now you want to find out where it is on Google Maps so you can go visit.

What is there today?

http://legallandconverter.com/

To label the location in Google Maps, go to the Label a Location Post.

For more information on Homesteading, click on the Homesteading Page

Dominion Land Survey (DLS) and Public Land Survey System (PLSS)

Differences between Dominion Land Survey (DLS) and Public Land Survey System (PLSS).

The DLS is based on the American PLSS with some distinctive differences. Two main differences between PLSS and the DLS are:

The Public Land Survey System [PLSS] used in USA system starts numbering the townships with 1 at the east as the Canadian but the 1 is at the top right-hand corner. The DLS starts the 1 at the south-east corner, starting at the border.

Canadian DLS Township layout.  Section 34 highlighted

United States PLSS Township Layout. Section 36 in orange.

The PLSS did not include road allowances. DLS includes road allowances which add to the grid which gives problems to accuracy.

The PLSS has multiple meridians that do not go from North to South from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. They are not uniform. 

The Canadian Meridians

Canada and US Meridian maps from Wikipedia.

Fourth Meridian Marker of the Dominion Land Survey

The fourth meridian is located at the Saskatchewan Alberta border. It is located north side of the road.

Marker is located at the following Latitude and Longitude
49.955537, -110.005022











Transcript of marker

FOURTH

MERIDIAN

     This marker is on the fourth meridian which is the main control line for surveys in the province of Alberta.
     From the true north line, surveys are carried westward to establish the location of townships and sections upon which all titles to land are based.
     In 1905 it became a provincial boundary.

Elected by

The 

Province of Alberta

Fifth Meridian marker of the DLS

There is no marker identifying the beginning of the fifth meridian marker along Hwy 1.

It should be located in Calgary at the intersection of Hwy 1 and Barlow Trail NE.
The frontage road for Barlow Trail at that point and south is called Meridian Road.
Appropriately identified as that is where the meridian is located.

A marker should be located around:

Latitude 51.064944 and Longitude -114.001075

Prime Meridian Marker for Dominion Land Survey

This first marker of the Dominion Land Survey is located about half a mile north of the actual site on Highway 1 west of Winnipeg.

The marker was placed on 10 July 1871.

Site Location (lat/long): N49.881622, W97.459340
Copy the Lat/Long into Google Map to obtain exact location. 

It is located on the north side of the highway on Portage Ave frontage road, just west of Headlingly, just outside west of Winnipeg.

Transcript of the plaque

DOMINION LANDS SURVEY SYSTEM
RESEAU TOPOGRAPHIQUE DU DOMINION

The first marker of the Dominion Lands Survey was placed 10 July 1871, on the Principal Meridian, about half a mile south of this site. The system, then inaugurated by Lieutenant-Colonel J.S. Dennis, Surveyor-General, extends across the prairies and to the Pacific coast, embracing more than 200 million acres of surveyed lands in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of British Columbia.

Le 10 juillet 1871, la premiere borne du reseau topographique fur posee a environ un demi-mille au sud d'ici, sur le meridien principal. Le reseau, inaugure par l'arpenteur general j.S. Dennis, traverse toutes les prairies jusqu'a la cote du Pacifique et s'etend sur plus de 200 millions d'acres de terres arpentees au Manitoba, en Saskatchewan, en Alberta et dans certaines parties de la Colobia-Britannique.

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.        

Commissiondes ileux et monuments historiques du Canada. 

Dominion Land Survey

Wikipedia states:

The Dominion Land Survey (DLS) is the method used to divide most of Western Canada into one-square-mile (2.6 km²) sections for agricultural and other purposes. It is based on the layout of the Public Land Survey System used in the United States, but has several differences. The DLS is the dominant survey method in the Prairie provinces, and it is also used in British Columbia along the Railway Belt (near the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway), and in the Peace River Block in the northeast of the province. (Although British Columbia entered Confederation with control over its own lands, unlike the Northwest Territories and the Prairie provinces, British Columbia transferred these lands to the federal Government as a condition of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The federal government then surveyed these areas under the DLS.)^[1]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Land_Survey

To learn how each land is identified read my blog post called Home, Home on the Range.

Each meridian marker identified in the following posts:
Prime Meridian  / First Meridian
Second Meridian
Third Meridian
Fourth Meridian
Fifth Meridian  

Third Meridian of the Dominion Land Survey

The third Meridian marker is on Highway 1 near the Saskatchewan Alberta border.

This marker indicates the beginning of the Third Meridian. All homesteads from this point to the middle of Alberta are in the Third Meridian.

This marker is located at:
50.466197, -106.005049

Copy the above latitude and longitude into the search box of Google Maps to identify the exact location.




The following photo is from Google Maps.
Turn off for the monument looking west.. East bound lane in the far left.

This photo illustrates the size of the monument and location on the ground.

Transcript of plaque

THIRD MERIDIAN

The marker at the Third Meridian, which is a major control survey line upon which the survey of Saskatchewan's lands to the west depends, honors the work of pioneer surveyors who overcame great difficulties in establishing a vast survey system on the prairies.

Basic to land settlement and the free homestead policy, the survey system of townships, sections and quarter sections, with allowance for roads, permitted ready location of lands and registration of titles.

Most of the provincial survey system was completed between 1880 and 1905 and now covers more than 110,000 square miles. The pioneer land surveyors made a notable contribution to the development of Canada by establishing one of the world's more efficient survey systems, unique in its uniformity, simplicity and practicality.

Government of Saskatchewan

Ontario Genealogical Conference 2018

OGS 2018 Conference will be June 1- 3, 2018.
Guelph, Ontario

I am excited to announce I will be doing two presentations at the conference.

EverNote for Genealogists 
3 hour session on Friday

Home Home on the Range
1 hour session on Saturday

The website for the conference:
 https://conference2018.ogs.ca/

Isn't that a beautiful photo for the conference!!

Second Meridian of the Dominion Land Survey

At a historical stop along the TransCanada highway going East, in the middle of Saskatchewan, is the plaque [shown on right] identifying the beginning of the Second Meridian.

The second meridian starts here and continues to the middle of Saskatchewan.

The west bound highway is behind the trees in the photo. If you are travelling west, there is a dirt road linking the two so you can go see this historical plaque.

Site Location (lat/long): 50.272628 -102.006449
It is located 53 kilometers west of the Manitoba / Saskatchewan border. 
[Copy the Lat/Long into the search bar of Google Map to identify the exact spot.]

The second meridian is part of the Dominion Land Survey used to divide and identify land for homesteading.

Transcript

SECOND MERIDIAN You are standing on the second meridian, which is one of the main control lines for land surveys in this province. The second meridian is a true north line established from the Canada – United States boundary to Saskatchewan’s North-East Corner. From this line surveys were carried westward to create a land system of sections, townships and ranges upon which titles to land were based. Most of the survey was completed between 1860 and 1910 and made the orderly settlement of the province possible. Government of Saskatchewan.

Second Meridian North Marker of the Dominion Land Survey

There is a Second Meridian North Marker located at:
59° 59′ 57.99″ N, 102° 00′ 27.24″ W

This marker is also labelled Four Corners Canada.
There is a Four Corners in US where four states meet to make a square [Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.] We have one as well. The four are Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territory and Nunavut.

The BM and Manitoba Saskatchewan Boundary Commission 1962 side is facing South. Manitoba side facing East.

BM Stands for bench marker.

The round disk at the top says:

"5 years imprisonment for removal"

 Photo from Wikipedia

This post is part of my Canada Homestead land posts.

Home Home on the Range: What Range Road is that ~ In Western Canada

Home, Home on the Range:

What Range Road Was That ~ in Western Canada?

Lianne Kruger

If your ancestor was a homesteader in western Canada, you may obtain a copy of their Homestead Patent from the archives. The certificate will contain the location of the homestead, but how do you find out where that is?

The following is an example of a Homestead certificate available with permission from The Red Deer & District Archives.   The land description on this certificate states:

NW Quarter, Section 34, Township 37 Range 25, West of the 4^th Meridian.

 

 

That is all very good, but where is that in Canada? Western Canada identifies land by the Dominion Land Survey known as the DLS, which began in 1871. It is the world’s largest survey grid system laid down in a single integrated system. It is 800,000 square kilometres (309,000 sq. miles).

When identifying where this land is located, we start at the last description and work our way backwards.

   

 

Figure 2: From Libraries and Archives Canadian www.collectionscanada.gc.ca

Meridians

Meridians are the main north–south lines of the survey, shown in red on the map above. The First, also known as Principal or Prime) Meridian located at 97°27′28.41″ west. This is just west of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The eastern section of Manitoba is known as East of the Principal Meridian (EPM). It is from the Ontario border to just west of Winnipeg and north as illustrated on the map above.

Each meridian is 14° west of the previous meridian. The 4^th meridian is the Saskatchewan and Alberta border.

A homestead in southern Alberta is described as "W4M" or "W4" or west of the fourth meridian.

NW Quarter, Section 34, Township 37 Range 25, west of the 4^th meridian.

As we look at the western Canadian map this tells us the homestead is in the east half of Alberta.

Range roads

Range roads are used to identify North and South roads between each Meridian, numbered from east to west starting at 1 from each meridian.

NW Quarter, Section 34, Township 37, Range 25, West of the 4^th Meridian.

Baselines

Baselines are the main east–west lines, starting with 49^th parallel, Canada/US border. Each baseline is about 24 miles (39 km) north of the previous one, ending at 60° north, the Northwest Territory border. They are identified as township roads.

Township roads are the East to West roads numbered from south to north starting at the 49^th parallel, some of which are baselines. 

NW Quarter, Section 34, Township 37, Range 25, West of the 4^th Meridian.

Townships

Each Township is then divided into 36 squares, each about 1 mile (1.6 km) square. Therefore, each township is a 36 square mile.

31	32	33	34	35	36
30	29	28	27	26	25
19	20	21	22	23	24
18	17	16	15	14	13
7	8	9	10	11	12
6	5	4	3	2	1

Note how the townships are numbered.  The numbers weave back and forth. They do not start the numbers on the right side for each row. 

NW Quarter, Section 34, Township 37, Range 25, West of the 4^th Meridian.

The section is highlighted above.

In most townships 11 and 29 sections were reserved for school lands. All other odd-numbered sections were reserved for railway grants. Hudson Bay Company retained section 8 and section 26 but the NE quarter; in every fifth township the company got all of section 26. The other sections were for Homesteaders. The Hudson Bay Company used the land or sold it for income.

Sections

Each section is divided into four quarters or into sixteen legal sub-divisions.

NW Quarter, Section 34, Township 37, Range 25, West of the 4^th Meridian.

             This quarter is highlighted below.

Sometimes they did not receive a full quarter section. An example is:

           SE quarter of the NE quarter.
To find this land, find the NE ¼ of the section then within that quarter find the SE quarter. The section is highlighted below.  

In some cases the land description was identified by the sub-divisions section number.  They are numbered the same way sections are numbered within townships, weaving numerically as shown below, therefore the description above would be number 9.

 

Corrections

Because Columbus was correct, the world isn’t flat, and thus townships are not perfectly square. They are smaller at the top [the North end] then the South. This means that there must be a correction every 4 baselines. Corrections are visible on maps.  A Range Road heading north ends at a township road but continues east of its original position, heading north again.