The Northwest Ordinance applies to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin
2. Surveyed townships under the Land Ordinance of 1785:
OrdinancesEach state or even a portion of a state has a specific meridian (North/South) and base (East/West) line.
There is only one meridian line for Michigan called the Michigan meridian. The meridian line runs north and south (up and down vertically) from Sault Saint Marie.
The Base line, running east and west, (sideways, horizontally), lies north of the second tier of counties, VanBuren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Jackson. Washtenaw, Wayne. (They wanted to avoid the Detroit area which had been surveyed by the French method.)
The Township line number indicates how far north or south of the base line a township lies.
The Range line number indicates how far east or west of the meridian line a township lies.
Kent County lies north of the Base line and west of the Meridian.
Example: Tyrone Twp is the 10th township north of the base line and the 12th township west of the meridian.
| Tyrone Twp | Solon Twp | Nelson Twp | Spencer Twp |
| T10N R12W | T10N R11W | T10N R10W | T10N R9W |
| Sparta Twp | Algoma Twp | Courtland Twp | Oakfield Twp |
| T9N R12W | T9N R11W | T9N R10W | T9N R9W |
| Alpine Twp | Plainfield Twp | Cannon Twp | Grattan Twp |
| T8N R12W | T8N R11W | T8N R10W | T8N R9W |
| Walker Twp | Grand Rapids Twp | Ada Twp | Vergennes Twp |
| T7N R12W | T7N R11W | T7N R10W | T7N R9W |
| Wyoming Twp | Paris Twp | Cascade Twp | Lowell Twp |
| T6N R12W | T6N R11W | T6N R10W | T6N R9W |
| Byron Twp | Gaines Twp | Caledonia Twp | Bowne Twp |
| T5N R12W | T5N R11W | T5N R10W | T5N R9W |
Italics indicate the townships out of which the City of Grand Rapids was formed.
A township is 6 miles square. There are 36 sections in every township in Kent County.
Every surveyed township in Kent County:
Note: these should be square but I can't figure out how to draw it that way.
Section 6 is always the NW corner. Section 1 is always the NE corner.
NW corner NE corner
| 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 |
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
SW corner SE corner
Section 31 is always the SW corner. Section 36 is always the SE corner
Just a note about Fractional townships = adjacent to a body of water, like Lake Michigan
A Fractional section = adjacent to a body of water, like the Grand River.
Article: Land Intro
From Heading Geography and the City of Grand Rapids
From web site: MyCityofGrandRapids.info