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Posted on 11/30/2025 7:08:10 PM PST by Red Badger
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Is this a revenue issue or a full employment act for surveyors?
I believe Michigan gave Indiana enough of it’s southern border to allow Indiana to have a connection to Lake Michigan. Indiana Dunes is a great beach after you hike up and over the dunes.
Surveyors didn’t want the job, too long, 110 miles............
What’s that got to do with the article?
What is the driving factor here?
Who’s unhappy with their own property lines?
Ok ... as a Hoosier expat, I’m curious. I suppose the question is how the border was defined originally.
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois had an epic, decades long battle with Kentucky over the state line, which was originally defined as the north bank of the Ohio River. Since the Ohio River got the Corps of Engineers treatment long ago, with locks and dams for navigation, it has not been a natural river for a loooong time.
That was a very minor issue as long as the friction arose from Kentucky revenooers prowling the north bank to make sure nobody was fishing in Kentucky’s river without a Kentucky fishing license, or putting in a small boat without paying Kentucky for the privilege.
But then Kentucky started getting greedy on water intake and discharges, with Kentucky running shakedown rackets on Ohio, Indiana and Illinois cities, towns, power plants, barge loading stations, and industrial development. It eventually went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the border was now out in midstream, so Kentucky couldn’t extort tribute. I.e., Kentucky got too greedy and got slapped down.
But what’s the issue between Indiana and Michigan? How was the border defined originally? They had precise surveys at the time, so I’m reasonably sure it wasn’t one of those “straight line due west from the big oak tree in Cletus Smith’s cornfield” things.
They used wooden markers apparently that have long since rotted away..............
Land that has wandered into Michigan: “Indiana wants me, but I can’t go back there...”
Yes, but the legislative language and/or Indian treaty line that established the border in the first place would have had a firm definition. The original surveyors would have taken their bearings from that. It’s a bit odd that they used wooden markers rather than stone for the purpose, which is why a new survey is needed. The immediate problem appears to be a matter of simply rounding up the money for the survey, given that there is no current dispute that needs resolution.
Pay me the $500k (or even half of it) and I’ll gladly go up there with some spray paint and start mapping out a border. It can’t be that difficult if nobody’s fighting over it.
My gripe is with those little enclaves created when the boundary rivers changed course, but the state boundaries didn’t.
US Census Bureau TIGER does a “Boundary and Annexation Survey.” I am not sure what happens if the boundary they get from Indiana county officials differs from the one they get from Michigan county officials.
I’d be inclined to accept the TIGER line unless someone can prove it incorrect.
Ohio had a state line problem with Michigan way back when. It got resolved. Remember Toledo.
And sometimes the change in the river’s course is courtesy of the Corps of Engineers. I can only wonder how many horseshoe bends on the Mississippi the Corps eliminated.
A 5-inch error over 110 miles is pretty tight. A 5-inch error between monuments not so good as that 5-inches would propogate through the remaining survey route.
Precise, yes. Accurate? That takes judgement and evaluation of all evidence available. You can’t take ownership of someone’s land away because your measuring stick is different than the guys’ 150 year ago.
The time consuming part is the research and recovery of potential benchmarks. Every Record of Survey, plat, and other land subdivision records will need to be reviewed. And if the border changes along route, it would require a new record of survey and monuments set.
Most Land Surveyors don’t like their previous work to be overturned and they could be liable for changes.
Paladin2 wrote: “Is this a revenue issue or a full employment act for surveyors?”
This can be a real issue for things like taxation or who owns what property.
It’s fairly common. For example, the border between Tn. and Al. looks like a straight line until you zoom in enough, then it looks like the blade of a saw.
Some of the older property deeds includ statements like, ‘on a line between the pine tree and the oak tree’, neither of which still exist today.
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