he present subdivision is into
quarter-quarter sections, of 40 acres each. These small tracts, by lines
running through the centre, north and south, and east and west, I would
subdivide into four tracts, each containing ten acres. These ten-acre
tracts, by a line running north and south through the centre, I would
divide into two equal tracts, each containing five acres; and each of
these five-acre tracts, by lines running east and west, into five
tracts, each containing one acre. The exterior lines, running east and
west, of these one-acre tracts, would each be one hundred and ten yards
long (330 feet), and the two sides running north and south, would each
have a length of forty-four yards (132 feet). The form of the ten-acre
tract and its subdivisions, would be as follows:

TEN ACRES.

110 yards. 110 yards.
4 +---------+---------+ 4
4 |One acre.|One acre.| 4
y +---------+---------+ y
a |do. |do. | a
r +---------+---------+ r
d |do. |do. | d
s +---------+---------+ s
|do. |do. |
+---------+---------+
|do. |do. |
+---------+---------+

This is the only plan by which the sections can be subdivided into
tracts of one acre each. Such subdivisions of sections into _squares_ of
one acre each is impossible; nor is it necessary, as, of the present
subdivisions, neither a half section nor an eighth of a section is
square. Before the motion made by me in the Senate of the United States,
on the 31st of March, 1836, the sales were made by eighths of a section,
an oblong figure, and not by forty-acre tracts.

Many of the present miners' claims are smaller than an acre, but it is
impracticable to make more minute subdivisions. This plan would continue
our present admirable system of surveys, and, to carry it out, as now
proposed, we should only have to mark, by stone or iron monuments, the
north and south exterior lines of each section at intervals of
forty-four yards, and the east and west lines at distances of one
hundred and ten yards, and the survey would be complete, extending from
section to section, and from township to township. Having devoted great
attention to such subjects, as chairman for many years of the Committee
of Public Lands of the Senate, and as Secretary of the Treasury, and
having, in early life, made many surveys in the field, I venture, with
great deference, to submit these suggestions for the consi