Principal Meridian - Sault Ste. Marie - Michigan, USA.
N 46° 30.081 W 084° 21.844
16T E 702251 N 5153129
A plaque dated August 25, 1840. marking the point from which all land in Michigan is surveyed. Located at Sault Ste. Marie, Upper Peninsula, Michigan.
Waymark Code: WMG42Q
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 01/09/2013
Views: 6
A bronze plaque set in a concrete plinth, at the base of the deralict International railway bridge from the USA to Canada.
The plaque text reads:
"On August 25, 1840. United States deputy surveyyor. WM.A.Burt.
Established at this point the North end of the principal meridian from which all land in Michigan is surveyed.
This monumenterected in 1964 by Upper Peninsula chapter, Michigan society of registered land surveyors."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Michigan meridian is the principal meridian (or north-south line) used as a reference in the Michigan Survey, the survey of the U.S. state of Michigan in the early 19th century. It is located at 84 degrees, 21 minutes and 53 seconds west longitude[1] at its northern terminus at Sault Ste. Marie, and varies very little from that line down the length of the state.[citation needed]
The meridian was surveyed by Benjamin Hough in April 1815. The meridian was selected because it formed one of the principal boundary lines defined in the Treaty of Detroit in 1807, which was the first large cession of land by Native American peoples to the United States in the Michigan Territory. In that treaty, the boundary line was described as running due north from the mouth of the Auglaize River on the Maumee River, which was the site of Fort Defiance (now Defiance, Ohio). Text Source: (
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