LINEAR AND SPATIAL MEASUREMENTS AS USED IN APPRAISING AND LAND DESCRIPTIONS
Common Linear Measurements
One foot = 12 inches
One yard = 3 feet or 36 inches
One rod = 16 1/2 feet or 5 1/2 yards
One furlong = 40 rods
100 feet = 6.6 rods
One mile = 5,280 feet; 1,760 yards; 320 rods; or 80 chains
Surveyors’ Measurements
1 link = 7.92 inches
1 rod = 25 links
1 chain = 4 rods or 66 feet
(These are the old surveyors’ measurements. Modern surveyors use a steel tape or what is called an
engineer’s chain which is 100 feet long with links of one foot. Thus, a mile measured by a modern steel tape
chain is 52.8 chains.)
Spatial or Area Measurements (Length x Width)
1 square foot = 144 square inches
1 square yard = 9 square feet
1 square rod = 30 1/4 square yards
1 acre = 10 square chains; 160 square rods; 4,840 square yards; 43,560 square feet
(An acre is an odd and inconsistent measurement. It is supposed to have been the amount of land that a
farmer could plow in a day with oxen and the old wooden plow. As a square, it is approximately 208.71 feet
on a side.)
A section = 1 square mile or 640 acres
A township = 36 square miles
A quarter section = 160 acres
Area of a square or rectangle = length x width in unit of linear measurement used
Area of a triangle = base x 1/2 height
Cubic Measurement (Length x Width x Height)
1 cubic foot = 1,728 cubic inches.
1 cubic yard = 27 cubic feet.