It runs east of Lansing and approximately through Jackson and St. The north-south line is a meridian drawn from the bottom to the top of the state. It is a county line across the state, and after jumping over Lake Michigan, is the state line between Wisconsin and Illinois. This is the 8 Mile Road that we know today. A line from Michigan's east to west lake shores was labeled the baseline. The surveyors' first task was to establish the points from which the land would be measured and numbered. The plats of the townships shall be marked out by subdivisions of one mile square or 640 acres and numbered from 1 to 36. The law said, in part.Ī surveyor of each state shall be appointed by Congress.to divide the said territory into townships of six miles square by lines running due north and south, and others crossing at right angles. Jefferson was an architect, and it appears that he had a predisposition for straight lines and right angles. The system originated in the Land Ordinance Act, passed by the Continental Congress, at Thomas Jefferson's urging, in 1785. According to an article in the Southfield Eccentric (8/22/02), we were wrong. It has always been thought that the mile roads, beginning with 8 Mile as the baseline, came from provisions of the Northwest Territory Act of 1787.
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