(2024-03-25, 10:25 PM)wyethia Wrote: Everyone appears to have pointed in the correct direction. PLSS is still in use especially on public lands.  Even lots in town reference back to it if you are willing to read through the survey data long enough, unless you are in a part of the US that was settled before 1785.

Yes the 36 refers to section 36, probably for Township 19N  Range 1E San Bernardino Meridian.  The 1/4 stands for quarter section corner - usually halfway along the boundary of the section. The horizontal line with the section number below it means it is the line between sections 36 (to the south) and 25 (to the north). Looking at my copy of Quail Springs Quad and Edward's clip, there is a jog in the how the corners line up between the townships, plus a township 18 1/2 !  what that means is that due to the curvature of the earth, or poor initial surveys, or both, the square grids don't line up perfectly in this area. Also interesting is that the map only shows some of the sections, which probably means that the PLSS was incomplete, not surprising if most of the land was still in government hands (why pay for surveying something that will never be transferred?) San Bernardino meridian starts on the top of Mount San Benardino and given the bonus township 18 1/2, at 6 miles per township (roughly) that is about 115 miles distant. I am not going to bother measuring that on Google Earth to check my guess.

Anyway, even though I probably have completely bored all of you, corner markers and associated signs are still useful and often historic. I will always stop to look at them.