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The Dominion Land Survey (DLS) is the method used to divide most of Western Canada into one-square-mile sections for agricultural and other purposes. It is based on the layout of the Public Land Survey System used in the United States, but has several differences. The DLS is the dominant survey method in the Prairie provinces, and it is also used in British Columbia along the Railway Belt (near the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway), and in the Peace River Block in the northeast of the province. These regions were surveyed using the DLS with the consent of the British Columbian government, since unlike the Prairie provinces and Northwest Territories B.C. controlled its own public lands upon entering Confederation. The survey was begun July 10, 1871, shortly after Manitoba and the Northwest Territories became part of Canada. Covering about 800,000&_160;square kilometres (309,000&_160;sq&_160;mi), the survey system and its terminology are deeply ingrained in the rural culture of the Prairies. The most important north–south lines of the survey are the meridians The Meridians were determined by painstaking survey observations and measurements, and in reference to other benchmarks on the continent, but were determined using 19th century technology. The only truly accurate benchmarks at that time were near the prime meridian in Europe. Benchmarks in other parts of the world had to be estimated by the positions of the sun and stars. Consequently, although they were remarkably accurate for the time, today they are known to be several hundred metres in error. Before the survey was even completed it was established that for the purposes of laws based on the survey, the results of the physical survey would take precedence over the theoretically correct position of the meridians. This precludes, for example any basis for a boundary dispute between Alberta and Saskatchewan on account of surveying errors.
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