Township and Range (Congressional Township and Range System)

In Indiana, land is described in the Congressional Township and Range System which identifies the location of Congressional Townships (36 sq. mi. land units) based on their position relative to principal meridians. The ideal Township is subdivided into 36 numbered units of land called Sections, one of several Land Unit Types recognized in Indiana. Although the remaining Land Unit Types are not formally part of the Congressional Township and Range system, all of the Land Unit Types are integrated with the Township and Range System in practical usage. In some cases, forcing the non-sectioned Land Units into the Township and Range system has required the creation of Artificial Townships.

Each Township is named by a combination of a number and a direction north or south of a base meridian plus a number and a direction east or west of base meridian.

For example: 8S-9W is a Township Name as used in the PDMS (this equates to the formal abbreviation, T. 8 S., R. 9 W., which is short for Township 8 South, Range 9 West). The important thing to notice is that the term "Township" refers to a particular 36 sq. mi. unit of land, and the same term is also is used to refer to the first half of that Township's name (8S).

In the PDMS, the composite four-part Township Name is stored in four different data fields in the Location Table. Using 8S-9W as the example,

See also: Artificial Townships