Seven Ranges
Encyclopedia
The Seven Ranges was a land tract in eastern Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 that was the first tract to be surveyed in what became the Public Land Survey System
Public Land Survey System
The Public Land Survey System is a method used in the United States to survey and identify land parcels, particularly for titles and deeds of rural, wild or undeveloped land. Its basic units of area are the township and section. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system,...

. The tract is 42 miles (67.6 km) across the northern edge, 91 miles (146.4 km) on the western edge, with the south and east sides along the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

. It consists of all of Monroe
Monroe County, Ohio
Monroe County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,642. Its county seat is Woodsfield and is named for James Monroe, Secretary of State when the county was formed and later President of the United States....

, Harrison, Belmont
Belmont County, Ohio
Belmont County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 70,400. Its county seat is St. Clairsville...

 and Jefferson
Jefferson County, Ohio
Jefferson County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 69,709. Its county seat is Steubenville and is named for Thomas Jefferson, who was at the time Vice President....

, and portions of Carroll
Carroll County, Ohio
Carroll County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 28,836, no change from 2000. Its county seat is Carrollton. It is named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence....

, Columbiana
Columbiana County, Ohio
Columbiana County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 107,841. It is named for Christopher Columbus and the county seat is Lisbon....

, Tuscarawas
Tuscarawas County, Ohio
Tuscarawas County is a county located in the eastern part of the state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 92,582. Its county seat is New Philadelphia...

, Guernsey
Guernsey County, Ohio
Guernsey County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 40,087. Its county seat is Cambridge and is named for the Isle of Guernsey in the English Channel, from which many of the county's early settlers came....

, Noble
Noble County, Ohio
Noble County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,645. Its county seat is Caldwell. Noble County is named for Rep. Warren P. Noble of the Ohio House of Representatives, who was an early settler there.-History:...

, and Washington County
Washington County, Ohio
Washington County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 61,778. Its county seat is Marietta. The county, the oldest in the state, is named for George Washington. Washington County is included in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, West Virginia-Ohio...

.

History

Acquired by Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 following the 1763 Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...

, the Ohio Country
Ohio Country
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...

 had been closed to white settlement by the Proclamation of 1763. The United States claimed the region after the 1783 Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...

 that ended the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

. In spite of the prohibition on settlement, a number of squatters moved into the land north of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 making settlements in Tiltonsville
Tiltonsville, Ohio
Tiltonsville is a village in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,329 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, Martins Ferry
Martins Ferry, Ohio
During the census of 2000, there were 7,226 people, 3,202 households, and 1,959 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,345.1 people per square mile . There were 3,680 housing units at an average density of 1,703.6 per square mile...

 and other places, who were removed by force by the federal government. The Congress
Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America that existed from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second...

 passed the Land Ordinance of 1785
Land Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress on May 20, 1785. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the United States...

 as a formal means of surveying, selling, and settling the land and raising revenue. Land was to be systematically surveyed into square "townships"
Survey township
Survey township, sometimes called Congressional township, as used by the United States Public Land Survey System, refers to a square unit of land, that is nominally six miles on a side...

, six miles (9.656 km) on a side created by lines running north-south intersected by east-west lines. Townships were to be arranged in north-south rows called ranges. These townships were sub-divided into thirty-six "sections"
Section (United States land surveying)
In U.S. land surveying under the Public Land Survey System , a section is an area nominally one square mile, containing , with 36 sections making up one survey township on a rectangular grid....

 of one square mile (2.59 km²) or 640 acres. These ranges, townships, and sections were to be systematically numbered.

The first north-south line, Eastern Ohio Meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...

, was to be the western boundary of Pennsylvania, sometimes called Ellicott‘s Line after Andrew Ellicott
Andrew Ellicott
Andrew Ellicott was a U.S. surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the boundaries of the District of Columbia, continued and completed Pierre Charles L'Enfant's work on the plan for Washington, D.C., and served as a teacher in survey methods for...

, who had been in charge of surveying it, and the first east-west line (called the Geographer’s Line or Base Line
Baseline (surveying)
In the United States Public Land Survey System, a baseline is the principal east-west line that divides survey townships between north and south. The baseline meets its corresponding meridian at the point of origin, or initial point, for the land survey...

) was to begin where the Pennsylvania boundary touched the north bank of the Ohio River, the Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey
Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey
The Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey is a monument at the border between the U.S. states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, on the north side of the Ohio River. It is near the three-way intersection of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the northern tip of West Virginia, in both the Pittsburgh...

40°38′33"N 80°31′10"W. The Geographer’s Line was to extend westward through “the whole territory” which at that time was meant to include lands lying between the Ohio River and Lake Erie.

The Geographer of the United States, Thomas Hutchins
Thomas Hutchins
Thomas Hutchins was an American military engineer, cartographer, geographer and surveyor.He joined the militia during the French and Indian War and later took a regular commission with British forces...

, was to make a return of the survey after each seven ranges had been completed, at which time the Secretary of War was to choose by lot one seventh of the land to compensate veterans of the Continental army. The rest of the lots were to be sold at auction in New York, then the nation’s capital. A section (one square mile or 640 acres) was the smallest unit for sale, and some townships were to be sold in their entirety. The minimum price was one dollar per acre to be paid in cash or in land warrants of equivalent value. No land would be sold on credit.

The 1785 act called for one surveyor to be appointed by Congress from each state:
  • New Hampshire
    New Hampshire
    New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

     - initially Nathaniel Adams, who resigned, and was replaced by Winthrop Sargent;
  • Massachusetts
    Massachusetts
    The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

     - initially Rufus Putnam
    Rufus Putnam
    Rufus Putnam was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...

    , who was surveying the lands of Maine
    Maine
    Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

     and unavailable, and was replaced by Benjamin Tupper
    Benjamin Tupper
    Benjamin Tupper was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, achieving the rank of brevet brigadier general. Subsequently, he served as a Massachusetts legislator, and he assisted Gen. William Shepard in stopping Shays'...

    ;
  • Rhode Island
    Rhode Island
    The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

     - initially Caleb Harris, who resigned, and was replaced by Ebenezer Sproat
    Ebenezer Sproat
    Ebenezer Sproat , surname also spelled Sprout, was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a pioneer to the Ohio Country, and one of the founders of Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory...

    ;
  • New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

     - William Morris;
  • Pennsylvania
    Pennsylvania
    The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

     - Adam Hoopes;
  • Maryland
    Maryland
    Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

     - James Simpson;
  • Virginia
    Virginia
    The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

     - Alex Parker;
  • North Carolina
    North Carolina
    North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

     - Absalom Tatom
    Absalom Tatom
    Absalom Tatom was a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina from 1795 to 1796.-Biography:Born in North Carolina in 1742, Tatom was a sergeant in the Greenville, North Carolina Militia in 1763; he served in North Carolina Militia during the American Revolutionary War, where he was commissioned first...

    ;
  • South Carolina
    South Carolina
    South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

     - William Tate;
  • Connecticut
    Connecticut
    Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

     - Isaac Sherman.

Process

After passage of the act, on May 27, 1785, Hutchins was appropriated funds and made arrangements. He arrived in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 on September 3, and wrote a letter to the President of Congress noting that the requirement of the act for equal square townships could not be strictly met on a nearly spherical planet Hutchins began the survey of the Geographer’s Line on September 30. On October 8, word was received of an Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 attack on the Tuscarawas River
Tuscarawas River
The Tuscarawas River is a principal tributary of the Muskingum River, 129.9 miles long, in northeastern Ohio in the United States...

. He and his men were scared, and returned to Pittsburgh after only a few miles of the Geographers Line had been completed. Hutchins returned to New York that autumn. On May 9, 1786, Congress instructed him to continue his survey only south of the Geographers line, because the position of the 41st line of latitude, the northern boundary of the Congress Lands, north of which is the Connecticut Western Reserve
Connecticut Western Reserve
The Connecticut Western Reserve was land claimed by Connecticut from 1662 to 1800 in the Northwest Territory in what is now northeastern Ohio.-History:...

, was unsettled.

Hutchins arrived in Pittsburgh July 25, 1786. He and his men resumed their survey on August 5, and by September, 1786, they placed a stone completing the Geographer’s Line at a place near Magnolia
Magnolia, Ohio
Magnolia is a village in Carroll and Stark Counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 931 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Canton–Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

 called the Seven Ranges Terminus
Seven Ranges Terminus
Seven Ranges Terminus is a stone surveying marker near Magnolia, Ohio that marks the completion of the first step in opening the lands northwest of the Ohio River to sale and settlement by Americans...

40°39′07"N 81°19′05"W. Under protection from Indians by troops housed at the newly constructed Fort Steuben
Fort Steuben
Fort Steuben was a fortification erected in present day Steubenville, Ohio in the 18th century to provide protection from Indians for the first surveyors to venture into the Northwest Territory.-History:...

, the group completed four ranges, and forty two miles of the west side of the fifth range that autumn. The first and second ranges had been surveyed into townships by Captain Martin, and the third and fourth ranges by General Tupper
Benjamin Tupper
Benjamin Tupper was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, achieving the rank of brevet brigadier general. Subsequently, he served as a Massachusetts legislator, and he assisted Gen. William Shepard in stopping Shays'...

, Colonel Sproat
Ebenezer Sproat
Ebenezer Sproat , surname also spelled Sprout, was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a pioneer to the Ohio Country, and one of the founders of Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory...

, Colonel Sherman, and Mr. Simpson. Hutchins submitted a plat of the first four ranges to Congress spring, 1787. In June 1787, Hutchins asked a leave of absence that was granted, and the surveyors of the previous year continued the survey. Israel Ludlow
Israel Ludlow
Israel Ludlow was a government surveyor who helped found Cincinnati, Dayton and Hamilton in southwest Ohio.Israel Ludlow was born near Morristown, New Jersey in 1765. In 1786, each of the thirteen states was to appoint a man to help survey the Seven Ranges in the easternmost portion of the...

 completed the seventh range, with the southwest corner39°20′33"N 81°21′52"W a few miles up the Ohio river from Marietta, Ohio
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...

, followed by James Simpson in the sixth range and Absalom Martin in the fifth. Those three returned to New York, where, with Hutchins, they completed their report. Hutchins submitted the general plan, concluding notes, and plats to the board of treasury on July 26, 1788. In 1788, Hutchins began surveying additional lands on September 2, but fell ill and returned to Pittsburgh, where he died April 28, 1789, his survey incomplete.

The original survey set stones at one mile (1.6 km) intervals along the four sides of each township, and did not venture to the interior. The individual sections were not completely surveyed until 1806

Numbering

The sections of each survey township are numbered according to the plan of the Land Ordinance of 1785. The Ranges are numbered starting from Ellicott’s Line working westward. Townships are numbered starting from the southernmost township or partial township in each range, and numbering northward toward the Geographers line, a system called the Ohio River Base. Thus, townships next to one another do not have the same number due to the irregularity of the Ohio River’s course, with the townships adjacent to the Geographer‘s Line numbered 5, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 in ranges 1 to 7. This deficiency was corrected outside of Ohio by numbering from a baseline.

Land Sales

Public sales began in 1787 in New York, and were continued in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, Pittsburgh, and Steubenville, Ohio
Steubenville, Ohio
Steubenville is a city located along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Ohio on the Ohio-West Virginia border in the United States. It is the political county seat of Jefferson County. It is also a principal city of the Weirton–Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area...

. Difficulties with Indians continued in the area until the Treaty of Greenville
Treaty of Greenville
The Treaty of Greenville was signed at Fort Greenville , on August 3, 1795, between a coalition of Native Americans & Frontiers men, known as the Western Confederacy, and the United States following the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It put an end to the Northwest Indian War...

 in 1795, and settlement was slow. Steubenville was founded in 1797, and the land office
Federal Land Office
left|thumb|300px|alt=historical marker saying Federal Land Office This log building was constructed in 1801 by David Hoge on the west side of Third Street. It served as his home and as the first Federal land office in that part of the Northwest Territory known as the Seven Ranges. In 1809 it was...

 there opened in 1801. The Steubenville Land Office was responsible for sales in the northern part of the tract, within 48 miles (77.2 km) of the Geographer’s Line. The Marietta Land Office sold lands in the southern part. The General Land Office
General Land Office
The General Land Office was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury...

 in the nation’s capital also sold land. Local offices were eventually closed. The area was settled mostly by Pennsylvanians and Virginians. Section 16 of each survey township was set aside for public education as School Lands
School Lands
The School Lands are part of the Ohio Lands, comprising land grants in Ohio from the United States federal government for public schools. Support for public education in the United States predates the constitution; two years before the adoption of the United States Constitution of 1787, the...

. Knepper notes: “Sections number 8, 11, 26, and 29 in every township were reserved for future sale by the federal government when, it was hoped, they would bring higher prices because of developed land around them. Congress also reserved one third part of all gold, silver, lead, and copper mines to its own use, a bit of wishful thinking as regards Ohio lands.”

Dohrman Tract

Arnold Henry Dohrman helped the American cause in the revolutionary war at great expense while living in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. Unable to fully compensate him monetarily, Congress granted him township 13 of range 7 in what became known as the Dohrman Tract
Dohrman Tract
Dohrman Tract or Dohrman’s Grant was a land tract in eastern Ohio granted by Congress to Arnold Henry Dohrman , who helped the American cause in the Revolutionary War....

 or Dohrman’s Grant, now a part of Harrison and Tuscarawas Counties.

Ephraim Kimberly Grant

The Ephraim Kimberly Grant
Ephraim Kimberly Grant
The Ephraim Kimberly Grant was a land tract in eastern Ohio that was granted to an American Revolutionary War veteran by Congress late in the 18th century. It was located in the Seven Ranges along the Ohio River.-Background:...

 was a 300 acres (1.2 km²) land tract in township 4 of range 2 of the Seven Ranges that was granted to an American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 veteran by Congress late in the 18th century.

Legacy

The plan to return plats to Congress after each seven ranges was abandoned after the first seven. The 1785 section numbering plan was subsequently used for the privately surveyed Symmes Purchase
Symmes Purchase
The Symmes Purchase, also known as the Miami Purchase, was an area of land in Southwestern Ohio in what is now Hamilton, Butler, and Warren Counties. It was purchased by Judge John Cleves Symmes of New Jersey from the Continental Congress...

 and, with some modifications, by the privately surveyed Ohio Company of Associates
Ohio Company of Associates
The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company which is today credited with becoming the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio...

. A different system was established for later surveys.
The system of numbering townships north from the Ohio River Base, and ranges west from Pennsylvania was used for the Ohio Company of Associates, Congress Lands North of Old Seven Ranges
Congress Lands North of Old Seven Ranges
The Congress Lands North of the Old Seven Ranges was a land tract in northeast Ohio that was established by the Congress early in the 19th century...

 and Congress Lands East of Scioto River
Congress Lands East of Scioto River
The Congress Lands East of Scioto River was a land tract in southern Ohio that was established by the Congress late in the 18th century. It is located south of the United States Military District and Refugee Tract, west of the Old Seven Ranges, east of the Virginia Military District and north of...

.
A point on the west boundary of the Seven Ranges fifty miles south of the Geographer’s Line is the meridian for the United States Military District
United States Military District
The United States Military District was a land tract in central Ohio that was established by the Congress to compensate veterans of the American Revolutionary War for their service...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK