Converting Section-Township-Range-Meridian to Latitude-Longitude in Canada

In a recent post in the members only British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa Discussion Group on Facebook a question was asked about how to find a group of Saskatchewan homesteads on a map.

If any of your relatives settled in the Canadian Prairie Provinces and you've looked at the 1906, 1911, 1916, 1921, or 1926 census you might have seen the Place of Abode asking about the section, township, range, and meridian for anyone not living in a city or town.

1926 census of Canada, Saskatchewan, district 20, sub-district 23, Rural Municipality of Fairview, p. 2, dwelling 11, family 11, Margaret Gilchrist; RG 31; digital images, Library and Archives Canada, Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca : accessed 24 Jan 2020); citing Library and Archives Canada, item no. 1018757.

The locations were given using the Dominion Land Survey (DLS) method that was used to divide up most of Western Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and parts of British Columbia) into one mile square sections. These coordinates boil down to a legal subdivision, typically one of 4 quadrants - NE/SE/SW/NW, section, township, range, and meridian. I'm not even going to describe how all this came about since the Library and Archives Canada landing page for the Land Grants of Western Canada, 1870-1930, Wikipedia page on the Dominion Land Survey, and the Saskatchewan Land Information Services Corporation page on Measuring Land in Saskatchewan do a much better job than I ever can, so I refer you to those pages.

So, just how do you plot these co-ordinates onto a modern map?

I looked at a number of sites and many of them do a great job if you have only a few locations to plot. However, after between 3 and 20 plots you had to pay for monthly subscription or a small amount, usually less than a dollar and sometimes literally only pennies, to do more. However, I found that the Oil and Gas industry also uses this mapping system since the Dominion Land Survey addresses are used as legal land descriptions. After a bit more searching I came across the SCADALink DLS/LSD to Lat/Long page provided by Bentek System out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Screen capture of Bentek System's DLS/LSD to Lat/Long page with Margaret Gilchrist address.

It isn't the fanciest or prettiest page but, gosh darn, it just works and I love when I come across a web page that is designed for functionality with no bells or whistles.

The census enumerations for Canada generally only asked for the section (SEC), township (TWP), range (RNG), and meridian (MRD). Unless the enumerator wrote down NE, SE, SW, or NW you won't know which quarter of the section they were living on, unless they owned the whole section. In those cases I will just leave the LSD as the number "1" which is in the south-east corner of the section.

In the screen capture above for Margaret Gilchrist from the 1926 census of Canada I entered in the details from the enumeration leaving the LSD as "1". I clicked the Convert button and it did its magic giving a result of 51.345549,-108.257044.

So what can I do with that set of numbers? Well you can click the "Map" button and it will zoom into the coordinates in a Google Map page embedded with the SCADALink page. Or you can copy those numbers into Google Maps directly, maybe even creating your own map plotting where your relatives lived.

Screen capture of Google Maps with Margaret Gilchrist address plotted.

Sometimes you might come across situations where a transcription is missing a key part of the details such as the meridian. This has happened to me several times with the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, Homestead Grant Registers, 1872-1930 collection on Ancestry where the meridian is missing.

Here the record for the transcription for Harold Geo. Armitage's entry is missing "Meridian":

Screen capture of the record page for Harold Geo Armitage in the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, Homestead Grant Registers, 1872-1930 collection on Ancestry.

But since they provide a way to view the image of the register gaes you can check what was really recorded (fourth entry from the top).

"Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, Homestead Grant Registers, 1872-1930," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Jan 2020), entry for Harold Geo Armitage, application date 4 Nov 1914, image 6; citing  Homestead Grant Registers. R190-75-1-E. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

"Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, Homestead Grant Registers, 1872-1930," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Jan 2020), entry for Harold Geo Armitage, application date 4 Nov 1914, image 7; citing  Homestead Grant Registers. R190-75-1-E. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

As you can see on image 7 it seems that someone forgot to transcribe "2" for the meridian, or more accurately, W2. We can verify that information by searching the Land Grants of Western Canada, 1870-1930 at Library and Archives Canada for an Armitage at section 10, township 49, and range 14. Only one appears in the results.

Screen capture of search for Armitage at section 10, township 49, range 14 in the Land Grants of Western Canada, 1870-1930 at Library and Archives Canada.

Now we can properly map the location!

I hope that this helps you put your ancestors and relatives on the ground in the Prairie Provinces of Canada.