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CHAPTER XI.

THE OHIO AND MICHIGAN, OR TOLEDO WAR, CONTINUED-SETTLEMENT OF THE DIFFICULTY BY CONGRESS.

At the spring election of 1836, a double set of local officers were elected in the townships embraced within the disputed territory, one set under Michigan laws and one under the laws of Ohio.

The sheriff of Monroe county, Michigan, at the head of a considerable force, marched into the disputed territory, and carried off to Monroe, some of the would-be citizens of Ohio, who aspired to the honor of the local officers under the laws of Ohio. Thereupon Gov. Lucas, of Ohio levied troops and encamped at old Fort Miami, eight miles above Toledo, and four miles above the disputed territory.

Michigan was about to apply for admission as a State, and insisted on the line as originally established, and made preparations to resist a party of surveyors sent by the authorities of Ohio to re-survey the line. The surveyors were driven off by a party of Michigan men. Learning that Ohio would send troops to take possession of the disputed territory, acting Governor Mason called out the militia of the Territory, and as commander-inchief, placed himself at their head, and marched "to the front."

No enemy appearing to oppose him, he marched boldly into Toledo, overrunning, it is said, all the water

melon patches in his route, and making sad havoc among the fowls of the neighboring farmers. "He demolished the ice-house of Maj. Stickney, burst in the front door of his residence, and triumphantly carried him off a prisoner of war to Monroe."

A case of considerable interest, Piatt vs. Oliver, in which the question of State jurisdiction became important,, is reported in 2 McLean, 267, (U. S. Circuit Court) establishing the right of jurisdiction to be in Michigan until 1836. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the jurisdiction over the disputed territory was treated as rightfully and clearly in Michigan.. 3 Howard's R. 333.

The acts passed by the General Assembly of Ohio, in relation to the "Northern Boundary," indicated a determination to hold the disputed territory, if blood and treasure could do it. On the 19th of June, 1835, three hundred thousand dollars were appropriated, "to be paid out of the treasury on the order of the Auditor of State for the purpose of defraying the expense of carrying into effect the laws in regard to the northern boundary."

The following account of the conclusion of the war was furnished by an actor in the "scenes which he depicts," and published in Howe's Historical Collection:

"About this time appeared from the Court of Washington two ambassadors with full powers to negotiate with the belligerents for an amicable settlement of difficulties. These were Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, and Colonel Howard, of Maryland. They were successful in their mission, chiefly because Michigan was satisfied with the laurels won, and Ohio was willing to stand on her dig

nity-eight miles from the ground in dispute. At the court next holden in Wood county, the prosecuting attor ney presented bills of indictment against Gov. Mason and divers others in like manner offending; but the bills were thrown out by the grand jury. Thus was Ohio defeated in her resort to law, as she had before been in her passage at arms. At the next session of Congress the matter was taken up, and able arguments in favor of Ohio were made in the House, by Samuel F. Vinton, and in the Senate, by Thomas Ewing. Here, Ohio carried the day. Michigan, instead of the narrow strip averaging about eight miles wide on her southern border, received as an equivalent the large peninsula between Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, now so well known for its rich deposits of copper and other minerals. The chief value to Ohio of the territory in dispute, was the harbor at Toledo, formed by the mouth of the Maumee, essential, as her public men believed, to enable her to reap the benefit of the commerce made by her canals to Cincinnati and Indiana. The result has shown that they judged correctly. Toledo has proved to be the true point for the meeting of lake and canal commerce."

Questions-What is said of the spring election of 1833? What was done by the Sheriff of Monroe county? By Governor Lucas? What is said of the surveyors? Of Governor Mason? Which State did the courts decide had the rightful jurisdiction over the disputed territory? What appropriation was made by the General Assembly, and for what purpose? What is said of the negotiations for peace? Of certain indictments? How was the difficulty finally settled? In what way were both States benefitted by the final adjustment?

CHAPTER XII.*

OF THE PUBLIC LANDS-NAMES OF DIFFERENT TRACTS-CONGRESS LANDS, HOW SURVEYED RESERVATION OF SEC. 16 -THE SEVEN RANGES.

In most of the states and territories lying west of the Alleghany mountains, the United States, collectively, as a nation, owned, or did own, the soil of the country, after the extinguishment of the aboriginal Indian title.

When Ohio was admitted in to the Federal Union as an independent State, one of the terms of admission was, that the fee-simple to all the lands within its limits, excepting those previously granted or sold, should vest in the United States. Different portions of them have, at different periods, been granted or sold to various individuals, companies and bodies politic.

The following are the names by which the principal bodies of the lands are designated, on account of these different forms of transfer, viz:

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*The matter composing this and the two following chapters was abridged from the Ohio Gazetteer, for Howe's Historical Collections, from which these chapters are copied.

to purchasers by the immediate officers of the general government, conformably to such laws as are, or may be, from time to time enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into townships of six miles square each, under authority, and at the expense of the national government.

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The townships are again subdivided into sections of one mile square, each containing 640 acres, by lines run ning parallel with the township and range lines. The sections are numbered in two different modes, as exhibited in the preceding figures or diagrams.

In addition to the foregoing division, the sections are again subdivided into four equal parts, called the northeast quarter section, southeast quarter section, &c. And again, by a law of Congress, which went into effect in July, 1820, these quarter sections are also divided by a north and south line into two equal parts, called the east half quarter section, No. -, and west half quarter section, No. which contain eighty acres each.

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