Question

An example of a government lot is:

a) any parcel of real property owned by the state or by a political subdivision of the state.
b) any one of the thirty-six squares into which each township is divided.
c) any one of those lots lying directly adjacent to the Indian Meridian.
d) a parcel of land, along the shore of a lake or river, usually containing less than forty acres.

Answer 1

A government lot is a parcel of land, typically along the shore of a lake or river and usually containing less than forty acres, that could not be evenly divided into the standard grid system due to the natural landscape.

Step-by-step explanation:

A government lot is a term used in the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) which refers to certain parcels of land within a township that are not regular sectioned lots, especially in areas where the regular rectangular survey system could not be perfectly applied due to the presence of physical features such as lakes, swamps, or rivers. The correct answer to the student's question of what an example of a government lot is would be option (d): a parcel of land, along the shore of a lake or river, usually containing less than forty acres. This definition aligns with parcels of land that could not be evenly divided into the standard grid system because of the natural landscape.

The Ordinance of 1785 established the method for surveying and selling western lands, which included the division into townships and plots. Within a township, the land was divided into thirty-six squares or sections, each section being 640 acres. This could be further divided, but where this rectangular survey system did not fit due to the landscape, government lots were created to account for the leftover areas.