The
Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the
surveying method developed and used in the
United States to
plat, or divide,
real property for sale and settling. Also known as the
Rectangular Survey System, it was created by the
Land Ordinance of 1785 to survey land ceded to the United States by the
Treaty of Paris in 1783, following the end of the
American Revolution. Beginning with the
Seven Ranges, in present day
Ohio, the PLSS has been used as the primary survey method in the United States. Following the passage of the
Northwest Ordinance, in 1787, the
Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory platted lands in the
Northwest Territory. The Surveyor General was later merged with the
General Land Office, which later became a part of the U.S
Bureau of Land Management, or BLM. Today, the BLM controls the survey, sale, and settling of the new lands, and manages the
State Plane Coordinate System.