The Archives of Michigan announced that the original survey maps
of Michigan’s 1,400 individual township parcels have been
scanned and are now available to search, browse and print at
www.seekingmichigan.org. The maps included in the collection at
Seeking Michigan document land surveys that were conducted by
the federal government to lay out Michigan’s township and range
grid system. Some maps documenting later resurveys are also
included. The maps show bodies of water and land formations
throughout the state. They can be searched by township name or
by coordinates. The initial survey of the state of Michigan was
conducted primarily between 1815 and 1860. The federal
government contracted land surveyors who earned between $3 and
$4.25 per mile, which covered payment of their crews and
supplies. Crews usually conducted surveys in the winter because
their line of sight was improved and they could walk across
frozen lakes and ponds. It took about 20 days to survey a
township with two surveyors, two axe men to tr