Public Land Surveys: History, Instructions, Methods

The Continental Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 to control the survey, sale, and settling of the new lands. The Land Ordinance of 1785 marks the beginning of the Public Land Survey System, adopting the rectangular system of surveying. The Public Land Survey System has been expanded and slightly modified by Letters of Instruction and Manuals of Instruction, issued by the General Land Office and the Bureau of Land Management and continues in use in most of the states west of Pennsylvania, south to Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, west to the Pacific Ocean, and north into the Arctic in Alaska. The Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey is located at a point on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border between East Liverpool, Ohio and Ohioville, Pennsylvania, on private property. A National Historic Landmark marker commemorating the site lies on the side of a state highway, exactly 1,112 feet (339 m) to the north of the point.