Public Land Survey System Exam
Questions + Verified Answers 100%
correct, Update 2026
The first surveys of public lands in the US were conducted under
the provisions of which law? -
correct answer ✅Passed by Congress under theArticles of
Confederation in 1785, the Land Ordinance Act established many
elements of the Public Land Surveying System that remain virtually
unchanged today. The Act created 640 acre sections (which were
called lots) and 6 mi townships, and required that public lands be
surveyed before they were sold.
What caused a Guntners chain to increase in length over a period of
time? -
correct answer ✅The wearing down of the links and the rings that
joined them together.
Which authority supervised the first survey of the public lands? -
correct answer ✅The office of the Geographer of the United States
was created in the Land Ordinance of 1785.
The BLM started in 1946
The General Land Office was created in 1812
The office of the surveyor general was first mention in the act of
1796.
, Public Land Survey System Exam
Questions + Verified Answers 100%
correct, Update 2026
What is the Contract system, established by Rufus Putnam the
Surveyor General in 1797 -
correct answer ✅The contract system allowed the Surveyors
General to arrange contracts with deputy surveyors for the
execution of public land surveys.
In 1849, the General Land Office became part of the Department of
the Interior. What department of government had jurisdiction over
public land surveys before then? -
correct answer ✅One of the initial purposes of the sale of public
lands was to raise revenue. After the Revolutionary War, the United
States had a great deal of land but little money. The sale of public
lands provided a method for paying the huge foreign debt, among
other things. Therefore, it was natural that the Department of the
Treasury was in charge of the early public land surveys.
In 1847, Richard Young, commissioner of the General Land Office,
instructed Charles Morse in the sectional subdivision of a township
that had a particularly crooked eastern boundary. young's solution
was unpopular with Morse, but it limited the alignment problem to
only one row of sections by the use of a procedure still used in
similar circumstances. What is the procedure. -
correct answer ✅The establishment of a sectional guide meridian.
Questions + Verified Answers 100%
correct, Update 2026
The first surveys of public lands in the US were conducted under
the provisions of which law? -
correct answer ✅Passed by Congress under theArticles of
Confederation in 1785, the Land Ordinance Act established many
elements of the Public Land Surveying System that remain virtually
unchanged today. The Act created 640 acre sections (which were
called lots) and 6 mi townships, and required that public lands be
surveyed before they were sold.
What caused a Guntners chain to increase in length over a period of
time? -
correct answer ✅The wearing down of the links and the rings that
joined them together.
Which authority supervised the first survey of the public lands? -
correct answer ✅The office of the Geographer of the United States
was created in the Land Ordinance of 1785.
The BLM started in 1946
The General Land Office was created in 1812
The office of the surveyor general was first mention in the act of
1796.
, Public Land Survey System Exam
Questions + Verified Answers 100%
correct, Update 2026
What is the Contract system, established by Rufus Putnam the
Surveyor General in 1797 -
correct answer ✅The contract system allowed the Surveyors
General to arrange contracts with deputy surveyors for the
execution of public land surveys.
In 1849, the General Land Office became part of the Department of
the Interior. What department of government had jurisdiction over
public land surveys before then? -
correct answer ✅One of the initial purposes of the sale of public
lands was to raise revenue. After the Revolutionary War, the United
States had a great deal of land but little money. The sale of public
lands provided a method for paying the huge foreign debt, among
other things. Therefore, it was natural that the Department of the
Treasury was in charge of the early public land surveys.
In 1847, Richard Young, commissioner of the General Land Office,
instructed Charles Morse in the sectional subdivision of a township
that had a particularly crooked eastern boundary. young's solution
was unpopular with Morse, but it limited the alignment problem to
only one row of sections by the use of a procedure still used in
similar circumstances. What is the procedure. -
correct answer ✅The establishment of a sectional guide meridian.
