Seigneurial System and Ribbon Farms

This system of property survey creates a long, narrow plot of land, with one end usually bordering a river or roadway. Predominantly French, these ribbon-shaped plats were introduced in many areas during the 18th and 19th centuries, before the Public Land Survey of sections, townships, and ranges.

Early Red River settlements of the Hudson Bay company used this method of dividing land, extending on each side of the Red River in now what is Manitoba.

References

• The Long Lot system, from Michigan State University