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How did the Midwest get those perfect squares that you see when you fly over them? (Vanity)

Posted on 03/19/2006 9:24:27 AM PST by SamAdams76

Ok, this is driving me nuts and I can't find this in Google searches.

During the past week, I took a plane trip to the west coast and back and had window seats both times. I notice that most of "fly-over country" features a grid of near-perfect squares from approx. the Mississipi River to the Rocky Mountains.

Apparently these are all roads that are in a criss-cross pattern, intersecting perfectly to create these squares. On most of these squares you can see a single farmhouse with some additional buildings that might be barns, chicken houses, silos, etc.

Was this by design or by accident?

You really notice these over states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, etc. Just an endless parade of perfect squares.

Of course, when you get back east of the Mississipi, the landscape becomes mostly woodlands and irregular winding roads as opposed to perfectly straight roads.

Can anybody here explain?


TOPICS: UFO's; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: cropsquares
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1 posted on 03/19/2006 9:24:30 AM PST by SamAdams76
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To: SamAdams76

All the squares live in the red states.


We are fighting back:


Sincerely,

The Crop Circle Liberation Army.


2 posted on 03/19/2006 9:26:39 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: SamAdams76

It's by design, surveying of land grants, I believe. Also makes it pretty hard to get lost. :-)

I've always been curious about the fact that everyone farms in a circular manner as you get out toward Western Nebraska and Colorado.


3 posted on 03/19/2006 9:27:14 AM PST by The Old Hoosier (Right makes might.)
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To: SamAdams76
I should also mention that many of these squares have circles in them. It's as if the farmers deliberately plowed their fields in a circular pattern using the center of the square to form a perfect circle within that particular square.

What is that all about?

4 posted on 03/19/2006 9:27:29 AM PST by SamAdams76 (Venus is dazzling, but not very high, in the western sky)
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To: SamAdams76

Because it is too much work to run long spans of barbed wire into a paisley pattern.


5 posted on 03/19/2006 9:27:50 AM PST by A knight without armor
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To: SamAdams76

The land was all surveyed and plotted using multiples of a rod(16 1/2 feet)


6 posted on 03/19/2006 9:27:56 AM PST by digger48
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To: SamAdams76

The circulars are irrigated fields. long sprinklers on a pivot. zoom in on a satellite pic and you can see them


7 posted on 03/19/2006 9:29:23 AM PST by digger48
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To: SamAdams76
"I should also mention that many of these squares have circles in them. It's as if the farmers deliberately plowed their fields in a circular pattern using the center of the square to form a perfect circle within that particular square.

What is that all about?"

Might be the watering system. On the ground, you'll see these huge contraptions with a center, in sections and on wheels, which water the crops and can be moved round the central point to get water to all the crops.

8 posted on 03/19/2006 9:29:57 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: The Old Hoosier; SamAdams76

The circles are caused by the irrigation system. A big wheeled above ground pipe with sprinklers on it that pivots around a central axis like a clock hand. I'll find a pic and be right back.


9 posted on 03/19/2006 9:30:09 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: digger48

Thanks for the info. That explains the circles and it makes perfect sense now.


10 posted on 03/19/2006 9:30:38 AM PST by SamAdams76 (Venus is dazzling, but not very high, in the western sky)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

11 posted on 03/19/2006 9:31:22 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: SamAdams76

Are they squares or are they rectangles?

http://www.4554.com/Glossary/RECTANGULAR_(GOVERNMENT)_SURVEY_SYSTEM.html


12 posted on 03/19/2006 9:31:49 AM PST by Sometimes A River (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46031)
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To: SamAdams76

Yes, but - what are the wierd bare patches in west texas/New mexico?


13 posted on 03/19/2006 9:32:37 AM PST by patton (This forum allows optional use of most HTML tags)
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Like this?


14 posted on 03/19/2006 9:33:06 AM PST by SamAdams76 (Venus is dazzling, but not very high, in the western sky)
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To: SamAdams76
As far as the grid pattern, that was done by surveying and land grant. You do see it east of the Mississippi as well, but nowhere near as much.
15 posted on 03/19/2006 9:33:20 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: SamAdams76

You will get a whole bunch of different answers to this because there are a whole bunch of different reasons.

One of them is the way the government surveyed the land when they were selling it or transferring it to railroads to help offset the cost of building railroads across hundreds of mails where few lived (at that time.)

The railroads then did their own surveys which were similar (most of the time) to the government's. As a result each piece of land that was sold was sold as a square so that each piece would be very close in size to each other piece. This saved the government and the railroads from having to go through the time and expense of pricing different lots differently.

A guy by the name of Robert W. Fogel wrote on this a good half-century ago but I have long since forgotten the citation.

McVey


16 posted on 03/19/2006 9:33:40 AM PST by mcvey
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To: The Old Hoosier

Irrigation helps encourage the circular farming. There may be other reasons.


17 posted on 03/19/2006 9:34:23 AM PST by mcvey
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To: SamAdams76

Yep.


18 posted on 03/19/2006 9:34:43 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: digger48; SamAdams76

The large squares are one mile square with 640 acres.

I can't remember if the one mile square is called a section.


19 posted on 03/19/2006 9:34:55 AM PST by PeteB570 (Guns, what real men want for Christmas)
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To: SamAdams76

That's it.


20 posted on 03/19/2006 9:34:59 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
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