History of Land Survey in the United States

     When the land now included in the United States was first settled in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was surveyed and described by the system known as metes and bounds. A monument or landmark was selected as the site for the beginning of the land description and then by measuring angles and lengths, the boundaries of the parcel of land were described, tracing the outline back to the place of beginning. Because markers were used that were not necessarily permanent, like trees or stakes placed in the ground, it could be difficult to go back and identify the exact boundaries after passage of time.
     All of the original thirteen colonies and the states of Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee were surveyed using this method. Beginning with the settling of the Northwest Territory, which included the land north and west of the Ohio River and including the present state of Ohio, the government decreed that a new system of survey would be used. This new rectangular system used fixed meridians of longitude and latitude to begin their measurements and blocks of land six miles square were laid out as townships and ranges. Ranges were measured east and west, and townships north and south. A block that was one Range (six miles east and west) wide and one Township (six miles north and south) long, became a political subdivision called a township. A township contained thirty-six numbered sections of land each of which was one square mile and contained six-hundred and forty acres.
     The first land so surveyed was in east-central Ohio, and was known as the First Seven Ranges and was surveyed in the year 1785. This roughly included the land from about Marietta north to Columbiana County, and east to the Ohio River. The second survey done, also in 1785, was the Ohio River Survey. The Ohio River Survey is measured west from the meridian that defines the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and was bordered on the south by the Ohio River. This included most of the rest of southeastern Ohio excluding the United States Military District which included most of the area west of Belmont and Harrison Counties. Because these were the first areas surveyed using the new system, there were some irregularities and quirks that occurred.
     The Ohio State Auditor's Office has a nice explanatory page on early land acquisition in Ohio at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohfrankl/Land/ohl2.html and also instructions on how to order a free copy of "Ohio Lands - a Short History."

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