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The Legal Description spatial layer covers the entire upland area of the State of Washington and consists of often overlapping areas that provide the structure and building blocks for the delineation of parcels of land, a parcel being briefly described as a portion of land identified for purpose of ownership, encumbrance, taxation or governmental administration. Legal Description areas are referred to in written legal descriptions used in the conveyance of parcels. In the Public Land Survey states, of which most non-colonial states including Washington are counted, the most widely recognized legal description area is called a Section. Normally there are 36 Sections in a Township, which is another legal description area. In Washington (and in Oregon) many early land claims took the form of Donation Land Claims, which are, like Sections, confined to being a part of a Township. Tracts, which are used by federal surveys to denote irregular areas where the claim to ownership is based on bona fide rights, and Protracted Blocks, which are a buffer between surveyed areas and areas of unsurveyed (protracted) Sections, are two additional subdivisions of Townships. Sections were not normally subdivided, except in theory, by the federal surveys. The subdivisions of Sections performed by county and local surveyors, using the federal design or schema for section subdivisions, are also part of the Legal Description layer. The fabric of Townships, Sections and their subdivisions, Donation Land Claims, Tracts and Protracted Blocks comprise what is known as the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). These PLSS surveys are referred to as Rectangular Surveys, due to their characteristic orientation to true meridian and to the normally square-like character of the areas encompassed. Other irregular federal surveys are included in the Legal Description layer. These include Mineral Surveys, Homestead Entry Surveys, Townsites and non-rectangular Indian Allotments. Under the authority of Counties and Cities many local subdivisions of the PLSS have been created and are included in the Legal Description Layer. Local subdivisions include the streets, blocks and lots that are common in urban and suburban environments. |