Four numbers instead of birth place in Saskatchewan Canada Birth Records

Question

I have been finding on early birth record indexes in Saskatchewan Canada four numbers instead of a birth place.  For example on Aikens-343 Edgar's birth place is 32 13 10 5.  I know from another relative's birth certificate it was Sec, Tp, Rge and W.  I am guessing Section, Township, Range and W?  My relatives lived around Avonlea, Elmsthorpe, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  Is there a resource to explain these numbers and figure out the locations?  So far I feel like I am just guessing based on their census locations.  I would appreciate help learning about this, thank you.

Comments

W is missing a number, usually seen as W3 for West of the3rd Meridian. Try the app Google Earth. Im pretty sure you can enter a land location and it will take you there. There may be other apps available that do similar

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If you interpret 32 13 10 5 as a DLS land location, it is more commonly written as 32-13-10-W5. This is not in Saskatchewan. The 5th meridian runs through the city of Calgary.

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Thanks Doug, good catch! I started with W5 then because the question above mentioned Saskatchewan I edited my answer to W3 ...was not paying enough attention, should have looked closer at the land description! 

Answer 1

https://mhss.sk.ca/A/conversion-Sask-land-description-to-map-coordinates.shtml

Comments

Thank you so much! I was hoping there would be something like this... I couldn't find anything earlier; I am new to this.

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Your welcome! Good luck in your search.

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Thanks for posting this link, Lorraine.

Library and Archives Canada has land records and some have maps attached but I don't know if there is an easy way to look up this info on their site.

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I have never found LAC to be "easy" to search lol! Over the years I have learned their quirks and I can navigate pretty well. I have spent more time in the Land Grant section and have not had to search for Land Records much. I have noticed that the prairie provinces, like AB and SK , have very user friendly online provincial databases for vital stats and land records. So I usually search the provincial holdings before heading to LAC.

Answer 2

Another great site for Saskatchewan

https://www.saskarchives.com/collections/land-records/homestead-files-saskatchewan-archives/pre-1930-homestead-file-series-s-42

Answer 3

A possibility for just 'W':

The second meridian (W2) begins in eastern SK on a N-S line running approximately through Wapella on Hwy #1. Thus east of that line is in W1 territory. It may be that SK folks in that area just write 'W' rather than 'W1.

This is common practice in Manitoba where the meridan part of a DLS address is often written simply as 'W' but also known as W1 (west of the first meridan) and WPM (west of the Prime Meridian.)

The prime meridan runs n-s on a line running through Headingly, MB, just west of Winnipeg. Manitoba therefore also has east-of designations written E, EPM, and E1 (there is only one easterly meridian),

Comments

Thank you for your info on meridians... I was able to spend some productive time yesterday learning about the Dominion Land Survey and all the terms used, maps etc.  I learned a lot!