As an easy conversion for those of you in other parts of the world: 640 acres equals 259 hectares. A section is one square mile, call it 2.6 square kilometers for ease, and is 640 acres. When you're dealing with large, open areas like we have here in the United States - that's how things were plotted out on the plat maps. That's also why, in a lot of this country, you only have to walk a mile and you'll come across a road. Don't get me wrong - there's areas where you're truly in the wilderness, but otherwise, we're a lot of one square mile grids.