Land Survey Index Help

Table of Contents

What is the Public Land Survey System?

How are sections marked?

Index Grid including Corner and Section Line numbering

How do I search for records by township, range, direction and section?

How do I search for General Land Office (GLO) Notes?

How do I search for subdivisions?

What are the column headings on the report?

County Fips Codes and Location of Original charts and descriptions

Tips for Researching using the Land Survey Index

How can I purchase a copy of the search results?

FAQ's

What is the Public Land Survey System?

The United States Public Land Survey System (USPLSS) in Missouri is an extension of the system adopted by the United States Congress in 1785. Between 1815 and 1855, Missouri was surveyed into one mile squares called sections. Thirty-six sections in a block of land measuring six miles on each side is called a township. This created the basis for the transfer for the land from the United States Government to private owners and is the basis for all land transfers and ownership in the state today.

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How are sections marked?

The sections were originally marked with wood posts, rocks or mounds of earth. This record of the original survey called the General Land Office (GLO) survey is found in the original field notes and plats. Today, new permanent monuments are placed at the section and 1/4 section corners (halfway between section corners). These monuments may also be aluminum pipes, iron rods, concrete markers or iron pipes with caps stamped to identify the corner. The Missouri Department of Agriculture, county surveyors and private surveyors will have set some of these monuments. They will have a witness post and sign set near the corner marker to identify the corner.

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Index Grid including Corner and Section Line numbering

The Land Survey Index User Guide shows the proper positioning of sections in a township, corner locations, and section line numbers as referred to in the Land Survey Index. A fractional section breakdown is also on this handout.
For a PDF copy of the Index Grid click here: Index Grid

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How do I search for records by township, range, direction and section?

Select search for records by Township, Range, and Direction

1. Townships-Missouri ranges from 16 north to 67 north
2. Ranges-Missouri ranges are from 18 east to 43 west
3. Direction-east and west of the Fifth Principal Meridian

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How do I search for General Land Office (GLO) Notes?

General Land Office (GLO) Notes can be located by finding the line number on the Land Survey Index User Guide and the Section Line (Sec Ln) column in the Land Survey Index.
Tips for finding GLO Notes
For a PDF copy of the GLO Notes Tips click here: GLO Notes Tips
For a PDF copy of the Index Grid click here: Index Grid

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How do I search for subdivisions?

The Subdivision search may be used when searching for any document which has a name.
Examples are:

• The actual name of the Subdivision or Condominium
• A town, city or village
• Some additional things which can be searched by name include State Parks, Cemeteries, Rivers or Roads

• Typing the first few letters of a subdivision, versus the entire name

• Example: If searching for Edwin Murphy's Subdivision, type: Murphys Edwin Sub.
• Block & Lot colmns can be located on the subdivision index.

For a PDF copy of the Subdivision Tips click here: Subdivision Tips

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What are the column headings on the report?

Information available from the report is:

Twp	Township number north of the baseline
Rng	Range line number
Dir	Range direction west or east of the Fifth Principal Meridian
Sec	Section number in the township
Fract	Fractional section number
Sec Ln	Section Line number (Field Notes)
U.S. Survey	U. S. Survey number
Surveyor	Name or registration number
Doc Date	Surveyors signature date
Root Ref	Location of the document in county records
Subdivision	Name of a subdivision, city, town, cemetery; anything with a name
Loc Org	Location original document is stored
Document Name	Name of the document as found in the Land Survey Index
Add	Check this box to add to shopping cart
Report Error	Red button to submit error to Land Survey Program.

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County Fips Code and Location of Original Documents

The County Fips Code and Location of Original Documents (LOD) refer to the place the document originated.
For a PDF copy of Fips Code and LOD chart click here: Fips Code and LOD

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Tips for Researching using the Land Survey Index

Click here for a few tips to help get the most out of research.
For a PDF copy of General Tips for Researching the LSI click here: General Tips

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How can I purchase a copy of the search results?

Ordering from the LSI is easy. Use the online search or review the LSI/CMI Ordering & Payment Tutorial.
Be sure to download your documents before leaving the LSI or CMI or page.
For a PDF copy of instructions click here: Ordering Instruction LSI/CMI

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FAQ

• Refer to General Tips for Researching the LSI.
• For a PDF copy of General Tips for Researching the LSI click here: General Tips

• Email us at landsurv@mda.mo.gov or call Land Survey at (573)368-2315 with the ORDER NUMBER and DOCUMENT NAME

• Documents need to be downloaded BEFORE leaving the web page

• Yes, documents can be saved after purchase

• Yes, it is located at the top of the page under the tab "HELP"

• There is a "tips page" located in the "HELP" file. If additional assistance is needed please contact our office at landsurv@mda.mo.gov or (573) 368-2315

• No, we have most of the surveys that have been recorded but there are many we do not have.
• Currently, we have approximately 1.4 million documents in our system and are adding approximately 10,000 surveys per year.

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PDFcopy of Help file

PDFcopy of Complete Tips