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Journal Review - Article #2 (12-15-99) Have you ever wondered, looking out your airplane window at 30,000 feet (assuming you were not afraid to look) what caused the marvelous patchwork on the landscape below. From your point of view at this elevation, it appears as if someone has placed graph paper on the ground below. If you have traveled by air extensively, you may have noticed this patchwork" is fairly common in the central United States but begins to disappear as you travel westerly towards the Rocky Mountain States. If you could measure this patchwork in the more densely populated areas of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, you would discover that a "patch" is about one mile square. Being the intelligent people we are we could logically deduce this "patchwork" is not a freak of nature. There must have been a cause that produced this visual effect. You would be right because these lines, sometimes going on unbroken for miles with other lines crossing at right (90 degree) angles, are roads or tree lines visually created by an act of Congress (no really!). The "United States Rectangular Land Surveying System" which was based upon the theoretically "six mile square township" was enacted by Congress as "The Land Ordinance of 1785" in session March 4 and passed May 20 1785. This is why we often hear the term "congressional township." This law became the basis for the subdividing of all public lands in Indiana,Ohio and Illinois as well as other states. Subsequent instructions rules and regulations were given to government deputy surveyors in later years who were to subdivide Indiana into townships and sections (area of land one mile square). Once these townships and sections were surveyed (most in the early 1800's) on the government territories, the lands were sold to individuals. The transfer of title from the government to an individual was done by an instrument called a "patent." If you happen to have an old abstract, which is the "chain of title" to the property you now own, it may contain a record of the original "patent" from the U.S. government to your predecessor in title. Most exchanges in property ownership are now done by "deeds of conveyance" or even more commonly called "warranty deeds." Formerly, with changes in property ownership, the claim of title was guaranteed to the new owner by presenting him with an abstract which was brought up to date with a record of the latest deed of conveyance. This "history" of the past ownership of the property you own or are buying may become a thing of the past, since the guarantee of the chain of title for most conveyances today is done with title "insurance". This is a less cumbersome way of guaranteeing title but does not pass on to the next ownerthe history of the ownership of the property. We will talk more in future articles about the rectangular land surveying system, how government surveyors actually laid out the sections, the kinds of measuring instruments used and some of the problems they encountered (like black bears and swamps). In our next article, we will respond to a question brought up by one of our readers. This individual is the owner of a property that has been in his family for over 100 years. Recently a survey was performed on an adjacent tract. The surveyor placed survey markers two to three feet on this individual's side of an old fence line thought to be marking the property line. His question is, does he have to accept the surveyors line or does the old fence mark the boundary between the two owners. We will discuss this next time. |
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