Geographer's Line

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GEOGRAPHER'S LINE

GEOGRAPHER'S LINE was established by Thomas Hutchins, geographer of the United States, according to the Ordinance of 1785. The line was to begin at the point

at which the Pennsylvania boundary intersected the Ohio River and was to run due west for forty-two miles. The line is located at 40©38© north latitude, but the inaccuracies of the survey, begun under many difficulties in 1785–86, caused it to deviate one mile to the north at its western end. The Seven Ranges, the first surveys under the ordinance, were laid out south of this line. They formed a strip six miles wide that was divided into townships six miles square.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Conzen, Michael P., ed. The Making of the American Landscape. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990.

Stilgoe, John R. Common Landscape of America, 1580 to 1845. New Haven, Conn. :Yale University Press, 1982.

Eugene H.Roseboom/f. b.

See alsoNorthwest Territory ; Ordinances of 1784, 1785, and 1787 ; Western Lands .