Early methods of allocating unsettled land often caused overlapping claims and border disputes, so Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 on May 20, 1875, establishing a standardized land survey system that reduced boundary conflicts. Under this system, territory was divided into six-mile-square townships, and the townships were divided into 36 sections, each one square mile or 640 acres. This rectangular cadastral survey system made it easier to describe and locate tracts of land and record property boundaries. In 1812, Congress created the General Land Office, which was responsible for surveying and selling 1.8 billion acres of public land domain. Survey crews measured distance with Gunters chain, which was 66 feet long, with 80 chains equaling a mile. The Homestead Act, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, allowed homesteaders to claim 160 acres of surveyed government land after paying a registration fee and filing an application, and they received a patent to the land free and clear if they lived on or cultivated it for at least 5 years. Although 160 acres may have suited an eastern farmer, it was too little for farmers on the dray plains and in western states to make a living, so Congress passed the Enlargement Homestead Act in 1909, increasing the acreage to 320 acres. By 1934, more than 1.6 million homestead applications had been processed, and more than 10 percent of all lands, or 270 million acres, had passed from public to private ownership.