Where the Fifth Principal Meridian starts, and all four quadrants are in use. Here is what the legal description on your deed, lease or division order is actually telling you, and where to check it for free.
Arkansas uses public land survey system. Where the Fifth Principal Meridian starts, and all four quadrants are in use.
A principal meridian and its base line are the origin of a rectangular survey. Township and range numbers count outward from that origin, which means the same township and range numbers repeat under every meridian. The meridian is the part of the description that says which grid you are on.
Arkansas is the origin of the grid that also runs Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas. The practical trap is that Arkansas townships are numbered both north and south of the base line and both east and west of the meridian, so all four quadrants are in use inside one state. Dropping the N or S or the E or W from an Arkansas description leaves you with up to four candidate parcels, which is not true in North Dakota where everything is north and west.
Deeds are with the county circuit clerks and recorders.
What it covers, how many net mineral acres it actually is, and whether anything is producing on it. Free, no obligation, and the answer does not change if you never sell anything to us. We do this every day and it usually takes us an hour.
Ask a Landman Get a Free ValuationCompiled from BLM, state land offices, state archives and statute, current as of 2026-08. Berlin Royalties is a mineral buyer and a landman shop in Tulsa, not a law firm or a licensed surveyor. Nothing here is a boundary opinion, and a description that matters to a transaction should be run by a title attorney or a licensed surveyor in the state where the land sits.