Someone told us it is 208 by 208 somone else said 417 by 417. What do you think?

-- Teresa (Mo) (c3ranch@socket.net), April 19, 2002

Answers

There are 43,560 square feet in 1 acre. This is equat to 208.71 x 208.71 feet.

Hope this helps

God Bless and have a Great weekend.

-- charles Steen (xbeeman412@aol.com), April 19, 2002.

Thanks now how many acres in one mile? how many feet in a mile. Isn't 160 acres one sqr mile?

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), April 19, 2002.

There are 640 acres in one square mile, sometimes referred to as a "section." A "quarter section" is 160 acres.

-- Ed (ecpubs@lynchburg.net), April 19, 2002.

most all dictionaries have this information in a section.

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), April 19, 2002.

Thank you so much. We went out looking at real estate today and here in the Ozarks it seems like every one has there own Idea of what is an acre, since everyone sells it more or less. LOL This will make things alot clearer when we go out again.

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), April 19, 2002.

As vague as it sounds, I think that "more or less" is legally supposed to describe a variation of no more that 10%. In other words, if they advertise "50 acres more or less" then it has to be at least 45 acres.

-- Jeff (lorianandjeff@aol.com), April 19, 2002.

I have two acres that is 630 feet long by 150 feet wide. That would mean the one acre is 315 feet long by 150 feet wide. 315 X 150 equals 47250 square feet per acre. Best I can figure it would be 217'X 217'. That is figuring if I have exactly 2 acres which is what I pay taxes on.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), April 19, 2002.

More or less means you'll be paying more but getting less. Don't buy anything without a survey. Don't believe the old survey that was done 50yrs. ago. Don't believe anything they tell you no matter how sweet and loveable they seem. Boundary disputes and bad surveys are a way of life in rural areas.

-- Emil in TN (eprisco@usit.net), April 19, 2002.

When I bought my place in the Ozarks I was told I have 101/2 or 11 acres more or less. We figured that because our survey goes out to the middle of the river,(which we can't do anything with) and includes the county road that runs between the house and the river, (that we also can't do any thing with) that was the less. My spouse thinks we should set up a tole booth to charge cars to pass and another one on the river for canoes. Ya think?

-- corky wolf (corkywolf@hotmail.com), April 19, 2002.

r.h in OK. If you are paying taxes on only 2 acres and your measurements of 630' by 150' are correct, you are getting a deal. Don't tell the authorities this. An acre as mentioned above is 43,560 square feet. At two acres you are paying taxes on 87,120 square feet. If you are 150 feet wide, the correct length would be 580.8 feet or if you are 630 feet long, the correct width is 138.29 feet.

Teresa, Affirmation of the above posted measurements, a square acre would be 208.71032 feet long on each side. Some real easy numbers to remember are: 10 square acres = 660 feet on each side and 2.5 square acres = 330 feet on each side.

-- Mac in AK (nospam@no.spam), April 19, 2002.

Correct me if I am wrong, but 'more or less' can mean exactly that. It doesn't mean it is in a 10% over or under. It means that no two people can or do survey a peice of land will come out with the same exact amount. Why you ask. When the core of engineers surveyed the land across our great country, it was divided into laditudes and longitude, cut into townships, ranges, sections, and then into 40's. Because the earth is not flat, and because of human error in survey, most sections will have what is called a 'big 40' or a small 40. That means some 40 acre sections would be a tad short or run a tad over 40 acres. Problem is, nobody knew which was the big 40, so if and when it is surveyed again, it will be surveyed from the core of engineers markers, which are used as starting points, and when surveyed by todays equipment, a 40 acre section may have more than 40 acres. Clear as mud?

-- Bear (Barelyknow@aol.com), April 19, 2002.

An acre is 10 square chains. A chain is 22 yards. So an acre is 22 yards by 220 yards, or a chain by a furlong (or 20 metres by 200 metres), or 110 yards by 44 yards. or 55 yards by 88 yards. And yep, r.h., you're doing OK - don't tell anyone - whoops, you already have - you mad impetuous fool.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), April 20, 2002.

The dictionary says its 4840 square yards.Pam

-- pam (pams65@hotmail.com), April 20, 2002.

5,280 ft in a mile

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), April 20, 2002.

I've never heard it expressed in square yards before, but that is correct.

When farming I typically measured acres with chain length, which is 16.5 feet. That makes a strip one chain wide by one half mile long an acre. Since I had one farm implement that took a chain width while slightly overlapping each round, I could get a guage of how much ground I had worked by counting how many rounds I had gone. Most of the fields I had were quarter sections while some were terraced. The terraced ones had their acreage shown on government program maps so you could see how much land you had worked by which terrace you had just completed.

Often you buy parcels of land that lay within fences, so you buy by the parcel not by the acre. Decades ago when sections were plotted, the surveyors would have to make corrections every so often to account for a slight gain or loss.

As an example I had one quarter section that contained slightly over 160 acres, while my uncles quarter next to it contained over 161 acres. While we were on the more side of more or less, others down the line were on the less side of the equation. Still when sold, the quarters would be sold as more or less 160 acres instead of being surveyed. I don't actually know of any quarter sections that have been surveyed in the area of Western Kansas that I came from. So what if the neighbor's fence is over on your property by 3 feet. The good will of leaving the boundry be would be much better than a bitter dispute and the labor involved in moving a half mile of fence.

More or less works best with quarters or fairly large acreages. With smaller properties surveys are best, but because of human error in measurement you still buy more or less acreage.

-- Notforprint (Nor@thekeyboard.com), April 20, 2002.

If in question, why not have the parcel of land in question surveyed by a professional and pay the for the actual acreage! It may cost a few dollars but you may save that or you will be satisfied you got the real thing...

-- milam (milam@nospam.com), April 20, 2002.

OK lets muddy the water some more. Nobody mentioned that surveys are conducted on a "flat earth". You may have a survey saying a property is 500 ft. deep but because of the slope of the land may measure much more.

-- JJ Grandits (JJGBDF@aol.com), April 20, 2002.

I remember reading the concept of 'an acre' originated in that it was the average size of land one man using one draft animal could plow in one workday. Thus, if you knew you had 40 acres, it would take one man 40 days to plow it, five eight, etc. It was used as a management tool or rule of thumb.

In Europe land is expressed as hectare, which is 2.2 of our acres.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 21, 2002.

P.S. Surveyers are now using global position satelites to determine boundaries. Locally a new survey has to agree with the same points on all adjoining land. Still, as mentioned above, land size changes when concepts such as middle of creek or river are involved.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 21, 2002.

My mother said that the measurements are made on 2-D maps, and so you might end up with more land per acre on hilly land (as the lines were drawn on a flat map, encompassing many ups and downs) than with flat land. Is she right?

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), April 22, 2002.