Land Survey Program Home Page - MoDNR

Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Land Survey

Mission The mission of the Land Survey Program is to develop and provide information required for the accurate and economical location of property boundaries in Missouri. The program is comprised of four sections and are responsible for the following duties.
The Cadastral Survey Section is responsible for restoring existing and obliterated corners of the United States Public Land Survey System. Hundreds of corners are restored, thousands perpetuated and doumented through in-house projects, contracting and participation in the filing of Certified Land Corner Documents.		The Geodetic Survey Section defines and manages a consistent coordinate system based on latitude, longitude and heights throughout Missouri. This section is responsible for preservation and augmentation of the horizontal and vertical-control network within the State of Missouri. Baselines throughout the state validate and verify electronic distance measuring equipment.
The Document Preservation Section is responsible for maintaining current documents in the Land Records Repository through contact with all county recorders and county surveyors throughout the State of Missouri.		The Document Distribution Section manages the Land Records Repository. Requests for documents from land surveyors, other professionals and the public can be distributed in a number of formats from paper to digital.

History What is the Public Land Survey System? The United States Public Land Survey System (USPLSS) in Missouri is an extension of the system adopted by the United States Congress in 1785. Between 1816 and 1855, Missouri was surveyed into one mile squares called sections. Thirty-six sections in a block of land measuring six miles on each side is called a township. This created the basis for the transfer of the land from the United States Government to private owners and is the basis for all land transfers and ownership in the state today. Why are these corners important? The land corners are the basis for the location of all property in Missouri. Properly monumented, they are a dependable, consistent, accurate source of information for settling property boundary disputes and other boundary related questions. ...more Sites of Interest Land Survey Index Horizontal and Vertical Control Maps Geographic Reference System Monument Recovery Form Land Survey Advisory Committee Missouri Minimum Standards Presentation Land Survey Program Brochure		News American Surveyor Magazine article, A Day at the Fair -- Educating the public at the Missouri State Fair about the work of professional land surveyors. Darrell Pratte Promoted--State Land Surveyor and Land Survey Program Director Attention GPS Users--Read the article, "Getting More from Your Handheld GPS Unit," by department land surveyor, Steven Weible. The article appeared in The American Surveyor magazine. Missouri Resources Magazine--Read about a rewarding career with the department as a Professional Land Surveyor.