The Challenge of Surveying in Ohio

Surveying in Ohio is unlike surveying in any other State of the Union. As John E. Dailey, LS wrote in the Winter 2004 issue of American Surveyor:

Anyone who loves challenging surveys should come to "Ohio, The Heart of It All." If you are tired of surveying squares and overworked re-running Colonial surveys, come to Ohio. We have it all.

The complexity of the myriad of systems is shown in the illustration below.

Ohio has the distinction becoming the veritable testing ground for survey systems, and was the birthplace of the Public Land Survey System, (PLSS). There are nine major survey systems in the State of Ohio

• Ohio River Survey
• Virginia Military Survey
• Connecticut Western Reserve Survey
• Between the Miami Rivers Survey
• Miami River Survey
• United States Military Survey
• South and East of the First principal Meridian Survey
• North and East of the First Principal Meridian Survey
• Michigan Survey

 

The full article is available in the Winter 2004 issue of American Surveyor Magazine, or is available for download in PDF format.