PLSS Public Land Survey System and MTRS Meridian Township Range Section
Township and Range, an explanation for Washington State http://www.lib.washington.edu/Maps/township2.htm
Willamette Merdian and base line is: Adopted 1851. Governing surveys - Oregon and Washington. Initial Point - Latitude 45-31-11, Longitude 122-44-34 http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/meridians/woshore.htm
myTopo has maps with township & range and GPS http://www.mytopo.com/maps/index.cfm?search_string=fairfax,+wa
shows willamette merdian and 4th & 5th std parallels http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm-maps/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/maps&CISOPTR=917&CISOBOX=1&REC=3
Conversion tools
Convert from MTRS to Latitude Longitude, including interface to Google Earth (KML file) http://www.earthpoint.us/Townships.aspx
Windows program to convert T & R to other coords http://wefald.com/trs2ll.html
online tool for converting T & R to LatLong http://www.esg.montana.edu/gl/