us land ordinance of 1785 definition township

Dozens of counties had eliminated the office of the county surveyor making it even more difficult to keep track of and maintain records for these corner positions.

The loss of these corners increased the probability of property line disputes and increased the cost of surveys which rely upon these corners. Over the years many section corner positions were lost due to road, utility, clearing for agriculture and fence construction. Two bearing trees were observed at every post to further witness the location of these corners. During the surveys a wooden post was driven every ½ mile on the perimeter of each section to monument the section corners.

The townships which make up Allegan County were mainly subdivided in the 1830’s. Therefore, beginning in 1815 and ending in the 1850’s the lands that became the State of Michigan were surveyed and divided. Two million acres of these acres were in Michigan near the western shore of Lake Erie and northerly of the Northern boundary of Ohio (which had not been determined yet). Also In 1812, congress designated six million acres of land for military bounties used for payment of service in the military. The General Land Office or GLO was created in 1812 to manage the public domain lands (later to become part of the Bureau of Land Management in 1946). Lands were to be divided into townships of 36 - 1 square mile sections. This surveying began in the Northwest Territory in what is now Ohio with the first land patent issued in 1788.

Us land ordinance of 1785 definition township