Soon after the Indian Peace Treaty was signed in 1867 the official survey
  to mark the section corners of Barber County was started. The earliest record-
  ed survey by Sam S. Smoot, under jurisdiction of the Surveyor General's office
  in Washington, D.C., dated November 30, 1867, is in the Register of Deeds
  office in the court house.
     The legal survey marked the land off in six square-mile townships, thirty-
  six square miles to the township; but this has been altered some, forming
  the political townships where each has a governmental body.
     They surveyed from east to west, using section corner markers such as a
  charred stake, a flintstone rock, or a sandstone rock, sometimes giving the
  exact measurement of the rock. The rock was placed in the ground on end,
  leaving about one-third of it protruding above the surface of the ground.
  The way the rock was placed according to its length and width indicated
  whether it was a section corner or half section corner marker. They also
  used the pits and mound methods of marking, consisting of four holes dug
  with a shovel, equally spaced around the point to be marked, with the dirt
  from these holes piled in a mound at the center marking point.
     Barber County is divided legally into 29 full and 6 one-half townships
  along the southern border. Politically Barber County is divided into 18
  townships.
                  
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 8
     Submitted by Elmer Angell, Jr.