LOCATION AND SIZE OF LOTS IN OKLAHOMA

LOCATION AND SIZE OF LOTS IN OKLAHOMA

By Mike Turman, OK-NARO Treasurer and Scholarship Chair

Sometimes I am amazed that anyone born in another country can learn the English Language. I can think of numerous definitions for the word "lot". This article pertains to Correction Lots, River Lots and sometime Lots surveyed against an Indian Reservation. This will be a way you can find the size and/or location of these types of lots in the State of Oklahoma. I have found it also works for Arkansas. This site will most likely not help you with traditional city or town lots. I have found it does not work for many other states. This website contains the original survey plats. Even though some of these surveys are from the late 1800s, the lot sizes are still used today. This website is a free site maintained by the Bureau of Land Management. To keep the article from being too long, I have eliminated a couple of screen shots, but you should be able to navigate the website with the instructions below.



1. Scroll Down and click on "Survey Plats and Field Notes" (An alternative is in the green bar under "General Land Office Records" click on " Search Documents". If you use this secondary method, make sure you click on "Surveys" under the "Search Documents By Type" tab.

2. In the "Location" box, switch the State to Oklahoma and the County to the one desired. (I am going to use Township 11 North, Range 9 West, Canadian County, Oklahoma for this example. This township has river lots in addition to the expected correction lots found in those sections on the top and left hand side of the section. Sections 1 thru 7, 18, 19, 30 & 31)

3. The next box down is the "Land Description" box. In the first box next to "Township:" and "Range:" only put numbers. NO LETTERS. (Don't worry about the section at this point)

4. In the Direction boxes, you will use "North" or "South" for the Township and "East" or "West" for the Range. If you have chosen the county above, it is not necessary to put anything in the "Meridian" box, but it doesn't hurt to add it. (I never use the drop down boxes in the middle of the box below)

5. Click on "Search Surveys" in the lower left hand corner of the screen above. 6. You will get the following screen:

7. Start with the selection that is usually "Original Survey". If there are several dates, but sure and look at the later dates. Sometimes all or a portion of a township was resurveyed. To keep this article shorter, I have decided the use the second entry in above. It was the later survey dated 3/16/1874. Be sure to go over to the right hand side and click "Plat Image". If you forget and click on "Original Survey", you will get a screen similar to that below. Again, click on "Plat Image". If a major river goes through your township, there may be a separate survey for each side of the river. That is the case in this example. I have chosen to look at those sections south and west of the South Canadian River.

8. The first screen that comes up will be small and of the entire township. At the lower left hand side of the picture are "+" and "-" tabs. Use those to enlarge or reduce the size of the plat. 50% is usually large enough. You can then put your cursor on the map, left click (while holding it down) and drag the map to the section you desire. I have chosen Section 7 to illustrate the Correction Lots 1, 2, 3 & 4. (Lot 1 contains 34.61 acres, Lot 2 contains 34.39 acres, etc). There are 617.12 acres in Section 7. This article will not print in color. Usually the Lot numbers and acreage in the section will be in red.

9. The following shows the size and basic location of river lots in Sections 14 & 15 of this township. In this example, Lot 1 of Section 15 would roughly be what we would call the NE/4 NE/4 and contains 39.10 acres. Lot 2 would roughly be the SE/4 NE/4 but contains 23.50 acres. Lot 3 would roughly equal the NE/4 SE/4 and contain 37.70 acres. Section 14 (on the south and west side of the river) contains Lots 8, 9, 10 & 11. Lot 11 is roughly the NW/4 NW/4 NW/4 and contains 8 acres.

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