Congress Lands West of Miami River

The Congress Lands West of Miami River was a land tract in southwest Ohio that was established by the Congress late in the 18th century. It is located south of the Greenville Treaty Line, east of Indiana, and north of the Great Miami River. The original survey in 1798 contained a triangular shaped slice of land, now located in Indiana, that extended to the Greenville line as it ran from Fort Recovery to opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.

In 1787, lands in the Ohio Country east of the Great Miami River were sold by the Continental Congress to Judge John Cleves Symmes of New Jersey, known as Symmes Purchase. With the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, lands west and north of the Miami, and south and east of the Greenville Treaty Line were ceded by Indians, and open to settlement.

The survey commenced in 1798. Land was to be systematically surveyed into square "townships", six miles (9.656 km) on a side created by lines running north-south intersected by east-west lines. Townships were to be arranged in north-south rows called ranges. These townships were sub-divided into thirty-six "sections" of one square mile (2.59 km²) or 640 acres. These ranges, townships, and sections were to be systematically numbered. The First Principal Meridian was established to run northward from the confluence of the Great Miami River and the Ohio River. Ranges were numbered east and west from this meridian. Townships east of the meridian were numbered from south to north, starting at the Great Miami River. Townships west of the meridian were numbered from south to north starting at the Ohio River. Thus, townships in adjacent ranges rarely have the same number. Sections in each township are numbered according to the plan adopted in the Act of May 18, 1796. The Ohio Enabling Act of 1802 established the western boundary of the state along the First Principal Meridian.

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