The (Mostly) Rectangular Survey

In 1785, the US government began to survey land based on systems of rectangles. The US General Land Office used this method to create standardized parcels of land that could be easily sold as part of the US colonial project of westward expansion. But geographic features—like rivers—and older administrative systems—like parishes established by the French—disrupted this seemingly simple grid. Up close, these ruptures unsettled the order projected from afar.