Chain / Surveyors Unit

A surveyors chain is what the original surveyors used to layout the public land survey system. It is a steel chain with 100 links that measures 66 feet long. So as they measured along a section line, 20 chains, or 1320 feet, would get you to a forty corner, or a full 80 chains, or 5,280 feet, would get you to the next section corner.

Imagine counting 80 chains, time after time, while laying out the public land survey system. It would have been very possible to drop a chain from the count in the process!

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