An Idea of Scale
I thought I'd give you all a quick lesson on the scale of our area. Below is a satellite image of Haxtun. Do you see how the land is divided into squares? I've highlighted one in red. Those are called sections - they are part of the public land survey system. Each section is one mile long in each direction. Most sections are divided into quarters and some are divided even smaller than that. Now notice the size of Haxtun compared to the size of a section. Not very big (which is why we love it). At the scale I have this photo, it's hard to see individual houses outside the town, but there are one or two houses on each section once you leave town. The rest of the land is used for farming and ranching. The ground is different colors depending on the use of the land (those are natural colors). This aerial photo was taken in the summertime. The green places have a crop growing on them, while the brown ones either have stubble from a previous crop or are used to graze animals, likely cattle. The green circles are crops that are irrigated with sprinklers (aka pivots), probably corn in this area.
One more thing, each section is 640 acres. An acre is a measurement used for a land area, about the size of a football field minus the endzones. My family lives on a 12 acre plot. Most houses in a city are on a plot less than an acre.
One more thing, each section is 640 acres. An acre is a measurement used for a land area, about the size of a football field minus the endzones. My family lives on a 12 acre plot. Most houses in a city are on a plot less than an acre.
Posted by Susan at April 16, 2009 
Categories: Farming, Rural Living
Tags: sections satellite acres pivots grazing aerial cattle plss public land survey system crops
Categories: Farming, Rural Living
Tags: sections satellite acres pivots grazing aerial cattle plss public land survey system crops
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