Arpent - Unit of length and area used in
France, Louisiana, and Canada. As a unit of length,
approximately 191.8 feet. The (square) arpent is a unit
of area, approximately .85 acres.
Chain - Unit of length usually understood
to be Gunter's chain, but possibly variant by locale.
Chains equal to 2 poles (one half the standard length)
are found in Virginia. The name comes from
the heavy metal chain of 100 links that was used by surveyors
to measure property bounds.
Engineer's Chain - A 100 foot chain containing 100 links of one foot apiece.
Gunter's Chain - Unit of length equal to 66 feet, or 4 poles. A mile is 80 chains.
Hectare - Metric unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters, or 2.471 acres.
Hide - Old English unit of area usually equal to 120 acres.
Labor - The labor is a unit of area used
in Mexico and Texas. In Texas it equals 177.14 acres
(or 1 million square varas).
League (legua) - Unit of area used in the
southwest U.S., equal to 25 labors, or 4428 acres
(Texas), or 4439 acres (California).
Link - Unit of length equal to 1/100 chain (7.92 inches).
Perch - See pole
Pole - Unit of length and area. Also known
as a perch or rod. As a unit of length, equal to 16.5 feet.
As a unit of area, equal to a square with sides one pole
long. An acre is 160 square poles. It was
common to see an area referred to as "87 acres, 112 poles",
meaning 87 and 112/160 acres.
Rod - See pole
Rood - Unit of area usually equal to 1/4 acre.
Vara - Unit of length (the "Spanish yard")
used in the southwest. The vara is used throughout
the Spanish speaking world and has values around 33 inches,
depending on locale. The legal value
in Texas was set to 33 1/3 inches early this century.
Surveying Terms
Call - Any feature, landmark, or measurement
called out in a survey. For example, "two white oaks
next to the creek" is a call.
Chain carrier - An assistant to the surveyor,
the chain carriers moved the surveying chain
from one location to another under the direction of the
surveyor. This was a position of some
responsibility, and the chain carriers took an oath as
"sworn chain carriers" that they would do
their job properly.
Condition - See Conditional line.
Conditional line - An agreed line between neighbors that has not been surveyed.
Corner - The beginning or end point of any
survey line. The term corner does not imply the
property was in any way square.
Declination - The difference between magnetic
north and geographic (true) north. Surveyors used
a compass to determine the direction of survey lines.
Compasses point to magnetic north, rather than
true north. This declination error is measured in degrees,
and can range from a few degrees to ten
degrees or more. Surveyors may have been instructed to
correct their surveys by a particular
declination value. The value of declination at any point
on the earth is constantly changing because
the location of geographic north is drifting.
First station - See Point of Beginning
Gore - A thin triangular piece of land,
the boundaries of which are defined by surveys of adjacent
properties. Loosely, an overlap or gap between properties.
Meander - "with the meanders of the stream"
means the survey line follows the twists and
turns of the stream.
Out - An 'out' was ten chains. When counting
out long lines, the chain carriers would put a
stake at the end of a chain, move the chain and put a
stake at the end, and so on until they
ran "out" of ten stakes.
Point of Beginning - The starting point of the survey
Plat - A drawing of a parcel of land.
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