Washington County (Utah). County Recorder Abstracts (sectional land), 1874-

For records created from 1872 to 1948, arrangement is numerical by section with sections ordered as recorded.For records created from 1945 to 1992, arrangement is geographical by township, section and range.

Washington County is organized into six-mile-square townships, identified by distance and direction from the Salt Lake base line and meridian. Each township is identified in terms of range and township, with range being distance west of the Salt Lake meridian, and township being the distance south of the base line. Each township is divided into 36 sections. Washington County occupies townships 37-43 south, at a range of 10-20 west of the Salt Lake meridian. Originally, the county recorder used Abstracts Books B-B4 for sectional land. He began a separate page for each section, and ordered sections chronologically as settlement or activity in that section warranted creating an abstract. He created a separate index to identify page numbers in the books were entries made for particular sections.

In about 1945 the recorder began a new set of books arranged strictly according to section, township and range, with separate pages for each section, divisions for each township, and separate books for each range. The first page of each section identifies the page and book number where entries for that section were last logged in the old system.