The Public Land Survey System and Early American Land Colonization

Ever wonder why the roads in Indiana have long straight roads running east and west or north and south? They are a result of the Harrison Land Act of 1796 and the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The PLSS established a method of dividing the Northwest Territory which included what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota for settlement. Indiana was divided into townships, then into thirty-six sections, each measuring one square mile or 640 acres. Sections were then divided into smaller half or quarter-sections when needed. This methodology is still used today for surveying and real estate transactions.

In 1804, surveyors began dragging chains through southern Indiana to measure it for land sales. This method of survey created a reliable grid pattern through hills and forests taking into account the curvature of the earth. Wealthy Americans and land companies purchased large tracts of land, hoping it would become valuable.

One individual who did just that was Isaac Blackford, an early settler in Indiana and one of the first Indiana Supreme Court justices. One of his earliest land purchases was of a combined 1379 acres of land in southern Indiana between 1816 and 1817. The initial cost was $2758 based on the $2 per acre land cost. In 2025 dollars, that is over $68,000.