The first prime meridian starts at the mouth of the Great Miami and forms the western boundary of Ohio.  The second prime meridian begins at the mouth of Little Blue Creek, in Indiana.  The third, at the mouth of the Ohio; the fourth at the mouth of the Illinois; and the fifth at the mouth of the Arkansas. [Illustration:  RANGES AND TOWNSHIPS] [Illustration:  The numbering of sections in a township.] [Illustration:  Divisions of a section.] The first prime meridian has several base-lines.  The base-line of the second meridian crosses it about twenty-four miles north of its point of beginning, and the base-line of the third is a continuation of that of the second.  The principal base-line of the fourth meridian coincides with the southern boundary of Wisconsin.  It has also a short base-line about six miles north of Quincy, Ills.  The base-line of the fifth meridian is just south of Little Rock, Ark.

From the first meridian most of Ohio is surveyed; from the second, Indiana and the eastern twenty-four miles of Illinois; from the third, the rest of Illinois, except a small portion north of Quincy; from the fourth, the portion of Illinois just referred to, all of Wisconsin, and that part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi; from the fifth, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, and the Dakotas east of the Missouri.

The sixth coincides with meridian 97 deg. 22’, west of Greenwich.  From it are surveyed Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota south and west of the Missouri, Wyoming, and all of Colorado except the valley of the Rio Grande del Norte.

Michigan, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and the states and territories in the far west are surveyed from special meridians.

HOW TO SECURE PUBLIC LANDS.

As a general rule, only surveyed lands are subject to entry.  Under the mineral land laws, however, claims can be located upon unsurveyed lands.

The public lands are divided as to price into two classes:  those whose minimum price is $1.25 per acre and those whose minimum is $2.50 per acre.  The latter, usually called “double minimum lands,” are in most cases the alternate sections reserved in railroad or other public land grants.  In some cases Indian reservations restored to the public domain have been rated differently, the price varying from below the single minimum to above the double minimum.

The remaining public lands are subject to entry under the homestead law, the desert land law, and the timber and stone act; by the location of scrip; and as town-site entries.  Mineral lands are subject to entry only under the mining laws; and special laws provide for the disposal of coal lands and lands containing petroleum.  Any person who is the head of a family or is over twenty-one years old, and who is a citizen of the United States, or has declared his or her intention to become such, may enter 160 acres of land without cost, except the land-office fees provided by law, inhabiting, cultivating, and making actual residence thereon for the period of five years; or such a settler may at the expiration of fourteen months from date of settlement commute the entry by paying the government price for the land.