Hi MI,
Not knowing what else to do, this is a fantastic site for Michiganders/ Michiganians
for the geographical founding of Mich. You'll enjoy looking for awhile then either use
it or leave it. No reply sought.
Best & Good hunting,
Barry
http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/Survey.html
(Partial text excerpt - images interesting):
THE MICHIGAN SURVEY
At the close of the Revolutionary War, the country consisted of thirteen states bordering
on the eastern seaboard, most of which had rather distinct claims to territory east of the
Appalachian Mountains, but also had vague and overlapping claims to large areas between
the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. During the early session of the
Continental Congress, the states were prevailed upon to relinquish their claims to most of
the territory west of the Appalachians and cede their claims to the federal government.
The largest, by far, of these cessions was that of Virginia which (in 1784) turned over to
the federal government all the land in the United States west of Pennsylvania, north of
the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. Some parts of this area were also
claimed by Massachusetts and Connecticut, which claims were also relinquished to the
government. Thus it may be of interest to note that the present titles to lands in the
vicinities of Grand R!
apids, Ann Arbor and a large part of Detroit proceed from the charter to Virginia from
king James in 1609 and a quit-claim from Massachusetts. The area thus ceded by Virginia
became known as the Northwest Territory. This area is of special interest to students of
the USPLS System because the subdivision and disposal policies as well as the surveying
methods were developed in this region.
The first legislation dealing with the subdivision of these public lands was the Act of
May 20, 1795 of the Continental Congress. One of the main points provided in this act was
that the rights of the Indian inhabitants should have been extinguished by treaty. As
such, no surveys were contemplated in Michigan until after the Treaty of Detroit in 1807
that released the first land in Michigan.
In 1787, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance. This ordinance set up a government for
the Northwest Territory and outlawed slavery there. It allowed the region to be divided
into separate territories. Once a territory had a population of 60,000 free citizens, it
could petition Congress to become a state. The new state would then be "on an equal
footing with the original states in all respects whatsoever." This Ordinance was
important because it set up a way for new states to be admitted to the United States. It
guaranteed that all states would be treated equally. Eventually, the Northwest territory
was carved into five states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. As the
Indian land titles were being extinguished or moved farther west, the next step toward the
settlement of Michigan's interior was the survey of these lands. None of the
government lands acquired was surveyed until after the War of 1812. The government
surveyors began their work in 1815 when!
two men were hired to establish accurately the location of the base line and the
principal meridian. With these standard coordinates established, other contracts were let
to have the townships set off in the eastern part of the Territory. The instructions to
the Land Surveyors were as follows:
"Your field notes are to form a full and perfect history of your operations in the
field. You are to enter in their proper places in the field notes of your survey, a
particular description and the exact location of the following objects:--
1. The length and variation or variations of every line you run.
2. The name and diameter of all bearing trees, with the course and distance of the same
from their respective corners.
3. The name of the material from which you construct mounds, with the course and distance
to the pits.
4. The name, diameter and exact distance to all those trees which your lines intersect.
5. At what distance you enter, and at what distance you leave every river, creek or other
"bottom", prairie, swamp, marsh, grove or windfall, with the course of the same
at both points of intersection.
6. The surface, whether level, rolling, broken or hilly.
7. The soil, whether first, second, or third rate.
8. The several kinds of timber and undergrowth, naming the timber in the order of its
prevalence.
9. All rivers, creeks and smaller streams of water, with their actual or right angled
widths, course, banks, current and bed, at the points where your lines cross.
10. A description of all bottom lands--whether wet or dry, and if subject to inundation,
state to what depth.
11. All springs of water, and whether fresh, saline or mineral, with course and width of
the stream flowing from them.
12. All lakes and ponds, describing their banks and the depth and quality of their water.
13. All coal banks, precipes, caves, sink holes, quarries and ledges with the character
and quality of the same.
14. All water-falls and mill sites.
15. All towns and villages, houses, cabins, fields and sugar camps, factories, furnaces
and other improvements.
16. All metalliferous minerals or ores, and all diggings therefore, with particular
descriptions of both, that may come to your knowledge, whether intersected by your lines
or not.
17. All roads and trails, with the courses they bear .
18. All offsets or calculations by which you obtain the length of such parts of your lines
as cannot be measured with the chain.
19. The precise course and distance of all witness corners from the true corners which
they represent."
That was quite of lot of information! Precisely because of these exhaustive instructions,
the original GLO maps stand today as a resource of inestimable value, for they provide an
immense amount of data on the presettlement status of the lands of the fledgling United
States.
The base line was established east and west along what became the northern boundaries
of the second tier of counties (Wayne, Washtenaw, Jackson, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and Van
Buren), where the road along these boundaries is still, in some places, called Base Line
Road. The principal meridian was established south from Sault Ste. Marie on longitude 84
degrees, 22 minutes, and 24 seconds. Meridian Road and Meridian Township are so named
because they are on or near this surveyors' line. The two lines intersect on the
Ingham County-Jackson County boundary (see maps below).
All land surveyed in Michigan starts from these points of reference, with the
townships numbered east or west and north or south of these lines. Thus "T2N,
R3W" means the second township north of the baseline and the third west of the
meridian. The sections within each township are numbered from one to thirty-six, beginning
with number one in the northeast corner, continuing westward to number six in the
northwest corner. Directly south of section six is section seven. The numbering proceeds
back and forth across the township to section 36 in the southeast corner. The maps below
illustrate this system, known as the US Public Land Survey (USPLS) system.
(Images below)