# How Land Is Surveyed in Montana: Reading a Legal Description

> Montana land surveys explained for mineral owners: One grid, one origin near Three Forks. What the legal description on your deed or division order actually means, and where to look the records up free.

Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/land-survey/montana/
Publisher: Berlin Royalties, a veteran-owned oil and gas mineral and royalty buyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, buying for its own account since 2014. Call or text 918-984-1645.
License: free to quote and cite with attribution to Berlin Royalties and a link to the source URL.

Land Surveys · Montana

## How land is surveyed in Montana

One grid, one origin near Three Forks. Here is what the legal description on your deed, lease or division order is actually telling you, and where to check it for free.

[Ask a Landman, Free](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ask-a-landman/) [What Are My Minerals Worth?](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/)

**Montana uses public land survey system.** One grid, one origin near Three Forks.

## The principal meridian

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.

- **Principal Meridian, Montana** (1867). Commonly written P.M.M. or M.P.M. Its initial point is near Three Forks.

## What we see go wrong in Montana

Montana descriptions read smallest to largest. SE quarter of the SW quarter of the SW quarter of Section 15 is a ten acre parcel, not a 160 acre one. Out of state heirs regularly stop reading after the first quarter call and assume they own four times what they own.

## Where to look it up, free

- [Montana Cadastral](https://svc.mt.gov/msl/cadastral/). Free statewide property viewer from the Montana State Library

- [BLM General Land Office Records](https://glorecords.blm.gov). Patents and plats

Deeds are with the county Clerk and Recorders.

### Send us the description and we will read it back to you.

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](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ask-a-landman/) [Get a Free Valuation](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/)

## Related

- [How land is surveyed in every state we work in](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/land-survey/)

- [The interactive section, township and range map](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/section-township-range-map/)

- [Montana mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/) and the [Montana owner's guide](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/guide/montana/)

- [How to find out if you own mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/find-out-if-you-own-mineral-rights/)

- [Depth severance](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/depth-severance/) and [the Duhig rule](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/duhig-rule-overconveyance/)

- [The mineral glossary](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/glossary/)

Compiled 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.