township and range rectangular survey grid system illustrating a parcel

Ohio was surveyed in several major subdivisions, collectively described as the Ohio Lands, each with its own range and base descriptions. The first surveys under the new system started at the Pennsylvania border in Ohio, resulting in the Seven Ranges. This BLM map depicts the principal meridians and baselines using for surveying the United States. The Continental Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 and then the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 to control the survey, sale, and settling of the new lands. In the 1783 Treaty of Paris recognizing the United States, Britain also recognized American rights to the land south of the Great Lakes and west to the Mississippi River. In addition this system didn't work until there were already people on the ground to maintain records. It isn't useful for the large, newly surveyed tracts of land being opened in the west, which were being sold sight unseen to investors.Over time, these descriptions become problematic as trees die or streams move by erosion.Irregular shapes for properties make for much more complex descriptions.There are some difficulties with this system: Within this boundary, a map or plat was maintained that showed all the individual lots or properties. The metes-and-bounds system was used to describe a town of a generally rectangular shape, 4 to 6 miles (6 to 10 km) on a side. Particularly in New England, this system was supplemented by drawing up town plats.

A typical, yet simple, description under this system might read 'From the point on the north bank of Muddy Creek one mile above the junction of Muddy and Indian Creeks, north for 400 yards, then northwest to the large standing rock, west to the large oak tree, south to Muddy Creek, then down the center of the creek to the starting point.' This system describes property lines based on local markers and bounds drawn by humans. The original colonies (including their derivatives Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia) continued the British system of metes and bounds. It has been expanded and slightly modified but continues in use in most of the states west of Pennsylvania, west to the Pacific Ocean and north into the Arctic.

The system was created by the Land Ordinance of 1785.

Township and range rectangular survey grid system illustrating a parcel