The Canning 15-minute quadrangle, near the center of South Dakota, is bordered on the east by the 100th Meridian and on the north by latitude 44°30'. The geology of the quadrangle has been mapped by the Engineering Geology Branch of the Geological Survey as part of a project in the general plan of the Department of Interior for developing the resources of the Missouri River Basin. One unit of this plan is the construction, by the Bureau of Reclamation, of a canal from the proposed Oahe reservoir in the Missouri River trench extending eastward and passing through the Canning quadrangle to the Blunt balancing reservoir, about 10 miles northeast of the northeast corner of the quadrangle.
The only community in the quadrangle is Canning, a village of 57 inhabitants. The nearest larger towns are Blunt, 1 mile north of the northeast corner of the quadrangle, and Pierre, 3 miles west of the quadrangle.