UNITED STATES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
(South Dakota)

Black Hills Forest Reserve
TOWNSHIP CORNERS

During the late 1890's, the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) established monuments for the Public Land Surveys (PLSS) of the Black Hills of South Dakota. They operated separately from the General Land Office (GLO) who were also doing the same type of work, but were instead using private contractors. The PLSS work by USGS should be considered very good. The notes are very thorough and since they were a government agency, there was no incentive for the surveyors to shortcut or do shoddy work.

At the township corners, USGS placed 3.5" diameter iron posts 48" in length with bronze caps. At the intermediate section and quarter section corners, they usually placed marked stones and referenced them to bearing trees. The iron posts at the township corners are among the earliest iron PLSS corners in the entire United States. The GLO did not start using iron monuments until a decade later around 1908. The bronze caps are marked as being "Bench Marks" since they did not have monuments made specifically for PLSS corners. Only in rare instances were the township corners used for vertical monuments despite the wording on the caps.

T1N-T1S R5-6E SC

T1N-T1S R5-6E CC

T1-2N R4-5E

T2-3N R3-4E

T2-3N R4-5E

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© Jerry Penry 2015