I had not seen this thread before. Just a couple comments.
By Hoser John:
"Nope--- hit the dictionary as they also are a land designation-example-kalif is the Mount Diablo Meridian and also mandatory in all legal documents filed on all claims"-John
The most northwesterly part of California utilizes the Humboldt Meridian and Base line. Mike O.
By Greydigger:
Yah, I think (Maybe) the Meridian is a set point for each state,
For Oregon the (?) Benchmark goes from there.
I have been to it in the west hills of Portland.
Then the Township is N/S and Range is E/W.
Section is a square mile seperated into 36 pieces each piece being 640 acres.
The parts of sections are broken down further.
(Help me if I am wrong).
Actually it is the Township which is 6 miles square consisting of 36 Sections of 1 square mile (640 acres) each which is then broken down further into 1/4 sections (160 acres), 1/4 - 1/4 Sections (40 acres) and such. One must also be very careful in assuming Townships, Sections and the breakdown of sections are exact acreages. Very often they are no where near being square, Townships or Sections. Mike O.
Here is a link to a BLM site showing the Principle Meridians and Base Lines.
http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/meridians/meridians.htm
Hope this helps, there is a lot to the original cadastral surveys of the western 2/3rds of the country on which our maps land descriptions are based.
Mike