MARKER TEXT: Side A Land Ordinance of 1785
In April 1784, the Continental Congress adopted the Report of Government for the Western Territory, a broad plan drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson for organizing the United States' new western lands that were ceded by the states and purchased from Native Americans. One of the most far-reaching legislative acts in American history, the resulting Land Ordinance of 1785, passed on May 20th, established the public land system by which all federal land was surveyed and distributed. The Ordinance established a rectilinear survey system that divided land into townships of six miles square aligned by north-south and east-west baselines, and set aside certain lands for Revolutionary War veterans and for public schools.
Text : Side B The Seven Ranges
In late 1785, Thomas Hutchins, geographer of the United States, began the first federal land survey according to the terms of the recent Land Ordinance of 1785. Hutchins' party extended a base line (the Geographer's Line) from the Pennsylvania border due westward from the north bank of the Ohio River, laying out the northern boundary of seven ranges of townships. Each six-mile-square township was subdivided into one-mile-square sections with a north-south row called a range. A one-mile-square section (640 acres) was the smallest unit offered for sale at public auction. As few could afford to purchase a section at $1.00 per acre, land sold slowly. The presence of illegal settlers and tensions with Native Americans slowed the surveying process and only Ohio's Seven Ranges was completed under the first survey.
The marker is located on Ohio 39 on the state line. (Pennsylvania Route 68). There is a cornucopia of markers in this spot. Ohio has two Historical Markers. There is stone monument on the state line and even Beaver County Pennsylvania has a marker on the other side of the line. Regrettably Pennsylvania doesn’t, but then again how many markers does the site need?
It is a rather remarkable place, the initial point of the land survey for much of the continental United States. If you want to see some of the results of this survey, take a look a road map of any flat mid-west state such as Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, or Kansas. If you look at the smaller highways and roads, you will see the north-south and east-west framework of Thomas Jefferson’s townships. Ironically the seven ranges do not exhibit the grid most likely due to the hilly topography. The effect can be seen in northwestern Ohio’s roads.
Our first exposure to the Land Ordinance was in the book Prairie Erth by William Least Heat-Moon. Heat-Moon discusses several aspects of the effect of the Land Ordinance on the land and the people of Chase County Kansas. In fact the grid appears on the front cover of the book. Another irony, Heat-Moon sailed near the initial point on the Ohio River in River Horse, his boat trip across America, yet he does not mention this site.
For Geocachers, there are quite a few caches in the area (one is very close) use zip code 43920 for East Liverpool, Ohio or 15059 for Midland, Pennsylvania.
Links
TN Genweb Project: “Land Ordinance of 1785”
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visit link)
Ohio History Central, Online Encyclopedia: “Land Ordinance of 1785”
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visit link)
Planetizen.com: “Thomas Jefferson: The Founding Father Of Sprawl?”
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visit link)
Amazon.com: Prairy Erth By William Least Heat-Moon
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visit link)