Township records

Overview

The Director of Surveys office is working on the Township Records Revision Project (TRRP). The project ensures new editions of township plans contain correct and updated survey information.

Project administration

The Government of Canada was responsible for the province’s township plans and surveys until 1931. Since 1931 the Government of Alberta is responsible for the administration of TRRP. Today, the Surveys Section administers the TRRP under the authority of Section 33(4) of Alberta’s Surveys Act.

Township records history

After the administration of township plans was transferred to the Government of Alberta, there was a long period of time where few updates occurred. During that time, township plans were only revised or updated when new sections of land was surveyed, restorations were completed, or when official re-surveys were conducted.

The Director of Surveys office made the revision of township plans a priority.

Revision of survey plans

New survey plans based on original field notes and other official records will be created. The revised survey plans reduce:

• confusion about the land-survey system
• the cost of correcting errors
• errors in the land-survey system and strengthens its integrity

What we revise

TRRP is not used to correct survey errors from original township surveys. Many of the survey errors are discovered and documented by secondary survey plans.

Under TRRP, clerical discrepancies between township field notes and township plans are corrected.

Project plans

Historical and current township plans

Approved revised township plans are found on New Official Township Plans.

An example of a re-survey done under TRRP is Resurvey Sections 31 and 32 Township 92-25-5

Approved township plans are on Alberta Government Services Spatial Information System (SPIN)

Official TRRP plan categories

Below is a list of the main plan categories that are being investigated under TRRP.

Baselines and meridians

Sometimes survey errors result in baseline and meridian lines that don’t accurately reflect how monuments are posted.

Some of the incorrect lines are officially recorded on township plans. In other cases, the inaccuracies appear in field notes and haven’t been officially recognized. A list of approximately 60 township plans with these errors is being addressed under TRRP.

Clerical errors, omissions or defects

Land surveyors have found clerical errors and missing information when comparing some township plans to the original field notes. The monumentation inconsistencies and conflicting data found is being addressed.

There are approximately 183 official plans from this category on the list.

Forest reserves

When forest reserves were established, sometimes information about affected townships was removed from new plans. TRRP is working on restoring the deleted information.

We have approximately 42 plans from this category on the list.

First Nations reserves

Some township plans do not reflect the current position of common boundaries of First Nations reserves. To update the official township plans, these organizations need to work together:

• Geomatics Canada
• Land Administration
• others

We do not have a list for this category. If you are researching First Nations reserves, make sure you don’t rely only on related information in township plans.

Non-standard, old-style plans

Prior to 1903 survey standards were different for township plans than they are today. The standards included detailed topographic information, and less survey information than today. The old plans did not include what monumentation was placed at corners, or whether witness monuments were placed.

Without this information, surveyors may think the old plans follow the pattern of standard townships. However, this is not always the case so the field notes must be consulted.

There are approximately 280 townships listed in this category. Field notes for these plans are available, and the plans are easily identified. Therefore, there are no immediate plans to revise these townships.

Restoration, re-establishment on township, baseline and meridian plans

Some official surveys have restored lost information such as monuments and boundaries. There are 68 official surveys which have not yet been included in official township plans. The affected plans are included in a list of alleged deficiencies (see below).

Single-line road allowances

A single-line government road allowance in unsurveyed territory makes a township plan deficient. The plans must be replaced with an edition showing road allowances along the unsurveyed section lines.

There are 21 township plans in this category to update.

Superseded townships

In earlier years, as new townships were surveyed and official plans produced, an attempt was made to review and update all other bordering townships if changes were discovered on the common boundaries. This process was discontinued when the responsibility for township plans transferred to Alberta.

There are a number of redundant baseline and meridian plans that have been incorporated into township plans. There are no immediate plans to revise township plans in this category. A list of deficient township plans in this category is currently not available.

When researching along a township boundary, surveyors must review other bordering townships for the possibility of more up-to-date information.

Affected township plans

A list of all known township plans with alleged defects is provided below. The list is indexed using the Alberta Township System (Meridian, Range, Township). It includes names of the plans and brief descriptions of the alleged defects:

• List of Alberta Townships with Alleged Deficiencies (PDF version)
• List of Alberta Townships with Alleged Deficiencies (XLSX version)

Contact

Connect with the Director of Surveys:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 310-LAND (5263)
Toll free: 1-833-310-5689
Email: [email protected]

Address:
Director of Surveys
15th Floor, Oxbridge Place
9820 106 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta  T5K 2J6