The legal description of your relative’s property won’t tell you everything about it. Locating it on a map (contemporary if possible, but those are not always available) may provide you with more details about the location. This map indicated that the timber claim filed by a relative was located along a channel of the Platte River in Dawson County, Nebraska. The Union Pacific Railway also ran through the property.

The legal description is helpful and important to have. It’s just not the only thing.