You will normally see the legal land description written as:
NE-16-74-20-W4 (Quarter Section-Section-Township-Range-Meridian).
This search will narrow the results to the section.
Meridians are lines of longitude (they run north/south) based on the Dominion Land Survey. In Alberta, they start at 110° West as the 4th Meridian, which runs north/south along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. The 5th Meridian is 114° West running north/south near the centre of the province. The 6th Meridian is 118° West running north/south closer to the north-western border
Township lines run east/west with township 1 starting at the Canada/US Border and increasing every 6 miles north. Valid Township values range from 1 to 126.
Range lines run north/south, starting at 1 at each meridian and increasing every 6 miles west from 1 to 30.
Section numbers start at the southeast corner of a Township (6x6 mile cell) and run from 1 to 36.
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
For more information on the Alberta Township System visit the Alberta Geological Survey web site.