The most fragmented survey history in the country, some rectangular and some not. Here is what the legal description on your deed, lease or division order is actually telling you, and where to check it for free.
Ohio uses a patchwork of survey districts. The most fragmented survey history in the country, some rectangular and some not.
A principal meridian and its base line are the origin of a rectangular survey. Township and range numbers count outward from that origin, which means the same township and range numbers repeat under every meridian. The meridian is the part of the description that says which grid you are on.
Only part of Ohio sits under a principal meridian at all. BLM carries separate survey systems of record for the state's other districts.
Each of these was laid out under its own rules, and several of them number and size things differently from everything around them.
| District | Where | Township size | What is unusual about it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seven Ranges | Eastern Ohio, 42 miles west from the Pennsylvania line | 6 miles square | The first rectangular survey ever run. Ranges numbered west from Pennsylvania, townships south to north. Started on the 1785 pattern with Section 1 in the southeast corner, later shifted to the 1796 pattern with Section 1 in the northeast. |
| Congress Lands East of Scioto River | East of the Scioto, south of the Refugee Tract and the Military District | 6 miles square | Over 3.5 million acres. Many irregularities from survey error. |
| Congress Lands West of Miami River | West of the Great Miami, east of the Indiana line | 6 miles square | Ranges numbered east and west of the meridian. |
| Congress Lands North of Old Seven Ranges | Pennsylvania line west to the Tuscarawas | 6 miles square | Follows the Seven Ranges system on the 1796 section pattern. |
| Congress Lands South and East of the First Principal Meridian | Northwestern Ohio, south of the 41st parallel | 6 miles square | Townships numbered north to south, ranges west to east. First surveyed 1819. |
| Congress Lands North and East of the First Principal Meridian | East of the meridian to the Western Reserve, north to the Michigan line | 6 miles square | Townships south to north, ranges west to east. Surveyed 1820 and 1821. |
| Ohio Company Purchase | Southeastern Ohio, west of the Seven Ranges | 6 miles square | 1785 pattern. Section 16 for school, Section 29 for religion, Sections 8, 11 and 26 reserved to Congress, and two townships for university support. |
| Symmes or Miami Purchase | Between the two Miami rivers, north of the Ohio | 6 miles square | The only original United States survey with ranges running south to north and fractional townships running west to east. 1785 section pattern. |
| Between the Miamis | North of the Symmes Purchase, between the Miamis | 6 miles square | Deliberately continues Symmes's unorthodox numbering. |
| Connecticut Western Reserve | All or part of 14 northeastern counties, 120 miles west from Pennsylvania | 5 miles square | Ranges west from Pennsylvania, townships north from the 41st parallel. |
| Firelands, or Sufferers' Lands | The westernmost 500,000 acres of the Reserve: Erie and Huron counties and parts of Ashland and Ottawa | 5 miles square | Each township split into four quarter townships of 4,000 acres, then 120 classes assigned by lot. |
| United States Military District | Franklin, Delaware, Knox, Licking, Morrow, Noble, Marion, Holmes, Coshocton, Muskingum, Tuscarawas and Guernsey counties | 5 miles square | Quarter townships of 4,000 acres numbered counterclockwise from the northeast corner, later subdivided into 100 acre and 50 acre lots. |
| Refugee Tract | Parts of Franklin, Fairfield, Licking and Perry counties, 42 miles east from the Scioto | Fractional | Each full section halved north to south into 320 acre lots, assigned by drawing lots. |
| Michigan Survey | Williams, Fulton and Lucas counties | 6 miles square | Off the Michigan Meridian and base line. Township numbering is irregular and keyed to the 41st parallel. |
| Twelve Mile Square Reservation | At the rapids of the Maumee | 6 miles square | Four townships numbered clockwise from the southwest corner. River fronting sections cut into roughly 160 acre long lots numbered 1 to 93. |
| Virginia Military District | A misshapen triangle between the Scioto and the Little Miami, running 141 miles north from the Ohio River, covering all or part of 23 counties | No sections at all | Indiscriminate claim, metes and bounds. Claimants located their own tracts using natural markers for corners. More than 16,125 surveys were made, and the entry number and the survey number are the same. |
Two things catch people in Ohio. A Township 3, Range 5 in the Western Reserve or the Military District is a five mile township, about 16,000 acres rather than 23,040, and the Military District's 4,000 acre quarter townships and 100 acre lots bear no relationship at all to a PLSS quarter quarter. And in the Virginia Military District there are no sections whatsoever. A description there reads Survey No. 1234, Virginia Military District, and because claimants located their own boundaries, those surveys overlap and leave gaps. An Ohio deed with no section call is not defective. Find out which district it sits in before you assume anything about acreage.
Current parcels are with the county auditors. Deeds are with the county recorders.
What it covers, how many net mineral acres it actually is, and whether anything is producing on it. Free, no obligation, and the answer does not change if you never sell anything to us. We do this every day and it usually takes us an hour.
Ask a Landman Get a Free ValuationCompiled from BLM, state land offices, state archives and statute, current as of 2026-08. Berlin Royalties is a mineral buyer and a landman shop in Tulsa, not a law firm or a licensed surveyor. Nothing here is a boundary opinion, and a description that matters to a transaction should be run by a title attorney or a licensed surveyor in the state where the land sits.