How Are Pre-settlement Vegetation Maps Made?
Before land in Michigan could be sold for the first time to settlers, the federal government required that it be surveyed. Deputy surveyors from the General Land Office visited Michigan prior to the logging era between 1816 and 1856. These surveyors’ township plat maps and transcribed field notes provide the best available record about Michigan s native landscape. The General Land Office required surveyors to note the location of wetlands, lakes, and streams; to comment on the agricultural potential of soils; and to note the quantity and quality of timber resources. The surveyors recorded recently burned areas, beaver floodings, windthrows from storms, and Native American settlements. At each section corner and half-mile point they pounded a wooden post into the ground. These markers would later be used to establish legal property boundaries. The measuring tools they used were a compass and a “chain.” A chain contained 100 links and was 66 feet long. A total of 80 chains marked a mile.
