for settlers, other surveys are made. These mark off the township into thirty-six sections, each one mile square. A mark is made at the corner of each section, and one half-way between these on the section line. A common way of marking a corner is by driving a stake into the ground. In surveying a township into sections the surveyors begin at the southeast corner of the township and mark off

FIG. 1.

veys, they leave the

often impracticable to run two independent lines six miles and have them correspond. So a quarter-section on the north side of a township is of uncertain size. The township surveyors make the sections a full mile wide as they mark off toward the *-*-* west. Hence, as a township is never six miles FIG. 2. wide, at least at the north end, the lots along *-*-* the west side are always fractional. The thirty-six sections in a township are numbered and located as indicated in Fig. 1. The section in the

northeast corner of the township is number one.

West

of this is number two, and south of it is number twelve. By following this uniform method of numbering the sections, it is possible to give the exact position of any section by simply knowing its number.

The United States survey ends with the location of marks at the corner of each section and a half-mile mark between the section corners, as indicated in Fig. 2. The government disposes of the land in forty-acre lots or multiples thereof. In a section there are six

N. W.

S. W.

S. E.

FIG. 3.

N. E.

S. E.

S. E.

teen forty-acre lots, and they may each be accurately located by a brief and convenient description. First, the section is divided into quarters and described as indicated in Fig. 3. Each quarter-section contains, of course, four forty-acre lots; these are indicated in precisely the same way. We will now suppose that you have been to the land office and purchased a forty-acre lot, with the following description: S.E. of S.E. of Sec. 9, Township 81 North, and Range 18 West of the Fifth Principal Meridian. Township 81 North and Range 18 West mean that the land is about four hundred and eighty-six miles north of Little Rock, Arkansas, and one hundred and eight miles west of Muscatine, Iowa. With a township map you can find the exact location, in Central Iowa. Having found the township, you next find section nine. This, it will be seen, by reference to Fig. 1, is one mile from the north line and three miles from the

east line of the township. The forty-acre lot described is in the extreme southeast corner of the section. If the government corner can be found, the land is easily located. If, however, the description ran S.E. of N.W. 1

of the same section and township, it would be more difficult to locate it. The South East corner of this lot is in the centre of the section, and this point is not fixed by the United States survey. If all the half-mile marks are visible, the centre may be located with some degree of accuracy by measuring across each way; but to do this with entire satisfaction requires a surveyor and surveyor's instruments. Besides, many of the original

marks made by the government became lost.

The County Surveyor is an officer chosen in each county to assist in locating land. In the first instance, men often took possession of their land without any attempt at accurate surveys. They "stepped" it off, or measured up hill and down with a pole. When land was cheap, or where no one claimed the adjoining land, this method answered every purpose. But as land became valuable, and all of it was occupied, it became necessary, or at least desirable, to have the lines established in their proper place. The county surveyor is employed by interested parties and paid by them for his work. He establishes corners for each piece of land, makes out a plat showing his measurements, and gives a copy to the parties employing him. If the parties desire, they may have the survey recorded in a book kept by the county surveyor. The surveyor may be employed in platting a town, or in locating town lots. In all the work of the county surveyor the starting-point is from one of the marks of the United States.

survey; he is not allowed to change these, but if they are lost he may relocate them.

The other county officers are a sheriff, a coroner, and a county attorney, whose duties are presented in another chapter.

CHAPTER IX.

STATE GOVERNMENT AND STATE INSTITUTIONS.

THE greater part of the administration of government within the state is performed by school districts, towns, townships, and counties. A few things are done by the state.

We have seen that school districts vote taxes for school purposes, build school-houses, employ teachers, and provide for the immediate wants of public schools. A county officer examines teachers, and has supervision over the schools of the county. The state provides an officer to have general supervision over the work of education throughout the state.

There is a permanent school fund of the state in the hands of state and county auditors. This money is loaned out and the interest is distributed to school districts in proportion to the number of persons between the ages of five and twenty-one, and is used in the payment of teachers.

The laws of the state authorize counties to establish high schools, but only one county in the state maintains such a school. High schools are established and maintained by school districts where there are towns and cities.

Besides these local schools the state at large maintains various educational institutions.

The State University, located at Iowa City, begins the work of education where the high schools of the state end it. It gives a liberal literary and scientific education, and has also departments of law and medicine, where lawyers and physicians receive their professional training. The University is supported in part by a state tax and in part by the proceeds of land given to the state by the United States government.

The State Agricultural College is located at Ames. The leading object of this institution, as set forth in the act of Congress donating land for its establishment, is to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes.

The Agricultural College is supported mainly by the proceeds of lands granted to the state by the United States government. The state is required by the terms of the grant to furnish land and buildings for the use of the college. The control of the college is in the hands of trustees appointed by the legislature.

A Normal School has been established at Cedar Falls for the special training and education of teachers. This school is supported entirely by the state.

Schools for Unfortunates. Besides these three educational institutions, which all classes may attend, the state maintains three other institutions for the education of unfortunate classes.

These are, a college

at Vinton, where all blind persons within the state may receive an education, one at Council Bluffs, for the