township, the largest division of sectional grid (6 x 6 miles) which contained 36 sections of land (1 x 1 mile each +/- )

1785: The public land West of the Mississippi River (aside from Texas), was surveyed using  ”sectionalized land surveys.”  This type of surveying placed a grid over and upon the land before it was sold or developed_Ryan 7

Jerry R. Ryan, Drawing the Line: A Landowner’s Manual & Buyer’s Guide(TideRunner Publishing Company: 1994)