Look out the window of an airplane over the Western US and you will see a patchwork created by the Public Land Survey System, PLSS. The grid we see from the air is made up of sections, each one mile square (640 acres). The sections are broken into half sections (320 acres), quarter sections (160 acres), and smaller increments resulting in a colorful geometric quilt spread out over the natural landscape.
The reason the PLSS grid is so visible has to do with the way land grants were given under various acts of Congress such as the well known Homestead Act of 1862. Boundaries were set using Cadastral Surveys and acreage was granted in 160 acre (quarter section) increments .
In 1850 the Donation Land Claim Act was passed by Congress to encourage homesteading in the Oregon Territories (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho). In the next few years, thousands of settlers came to the territory to claim property that could be owned free and clear if they spent four years living on and farming the land. A single man could claim 320 acres and a couple 640 with each owning half in their own name. This was one of the first opportunities for women to own property.
After 1854 the land was no longer free. A price of $1.25/acre was levied on plots limited to 320 acres. The first South Tabor settler, Joshua Witten, registered his claim in 1866 therefore he paid for his land. More about Joshua in another post.
Back to the PLSS. In cities such as Portland the one mile grid is echoed in the layout of streets. This is especially true on the Eastside of town because the flat terrain provides few obstacles to left brain city planning. The map below shows street names imposed on the 1854 survey map to help you locate the borders of our township and show how the street layout has followed the section lines.
At the top (North) on the map SE Stark follows the Willamette Base Line with major streets such as Division and Holgate located approximately one mile apart to the south. Numbered streets starting with SE 42nd follow the same pattern from west to east. Foster Road is an oddity because it follows the route of the Old Portland Road that predates formal surveys. South Tabor is marked in section seven and eight.
If you like old maps check out the Historical Maps page at the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Of particular interest is the Portland Plat Map c. 1906.
That's all about maps for now.
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