"Peter Dohm" wrote in message
.. .

"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"ManhattanMan" wrote in message


Nope. In hilly terrain, they run any-which-way.

That rules out 95% of Iowa (and the rest of the plains)...
Fence lines typically run along property lines, and since the
overwhelming majority of property lines are configured N-S and E-W, it
only stands to reason that fence lines would also, regardless of terrain.


--
Matt Barrow
Performance Homes, LLC.
Cheyenne, WY

I believe that a lot of property in the original 13 states has been
subdivided from plots that predated the grid system. A lot of the old
descriptions follow ridge lines, rivers and streams, and a lot of old
roads and trails.

As you said: subdivided. Those old boundaries are long gone. Even at that,
the layout of the plots were done in sectors, and layout out a property with
weird angles was just that much more difficult.

In any case, I can attest that landmarks along cardinal compass points
are the exception rather then the rule in the western parts of the
Carolinas and Virginia.

Landmarks, or grid references? They're not the same. No surveyor or
reference plotter is going to make his work that much more difficult. Though
I'm sure some very old plots run all over the board, any property subdivided
in the last 200 years is going to use cardinal directions.

OTOH, magnetic north is close enough to true north in those same areas to
easily place the next waypoint/landmark in easy view. Therefore, the
hardship is not nearly so great as it might be further west.

Surveyors knew to layout true north long before.


Just my $0.02
Peter