Surveying the Northwest Territory

Surveying the Northwest Territory. . , The Seven Ranges: Thomas Hutchins , Thomas Hutchins (1730-1789) was an American military engineer, cartographer, geographer, and surveyor. As a Regular Officer in the British Army and later as a U.S. Army engineer, Hutchins explored our expanding new nation and became an authority on our western frontier. In 1781 he was named Geographer of the United States, and in 1785 was commissioned to survey the Seven Ranges in the Northwest Territory. He was the first surveyor to implement the Public Land Survey System. Hutchins died in 1789 while surveying the Seven Ranges., The Ohio Company: Rufus Putnam , In 1788, American military officer Rufus Putnam (1738-1824) and others organized The Ohio Company, which purchased about 1 million acres of land north of the Ohio River. Putnam, a veteran of the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War, advocated for granting lands to veterans of the Revolution. He and his team reached the mouth of the Muskingum River and founded Marietta, which became America's first permanent settlement within the Northwest Territory. Putnam's role in early Ohio is significant. A distinguished veteran, he served as an Ohio Constitutional Convention delegate and was a founder and trustee of the Ohio University. Because of his role in American history, his home in Marietta is a National Historic Landmark., Could you brave the wilds of the Northwest Territory? , Surveying was dangerous and physically demanding work during the 18th century. The surveyor's job was to venture into wild, unchartered territories that were at best challenging to navigate, but could also present life- threatening conditions. Their tools were simple-only a compass and metal chain to trace lines along rough terrain., Day and night, they faced large and often dangerous animals like mountain lion, bear, elk, bison, and wolves. Constantly on the move, surveyors had to make and break camp daily (no doubt sharing their makeshift camps with mosquitoes, snakes, and skunks). Often considered trespassers, surveyors were threatened by indigenous people and early American squatters alike., Surveying was a slow and perilous task. Diaries left behind by 18th century surveyors tell of the many adversities they faced while retreating, regrouping, and restarting explorations., In addition to Hutchins and Putnam, other notable surveyors who profoundly shaped our young nation include Merriweather Lewis and George Rogers Clark, George Washington, and Thomas Worthington, Ohio's sixth governor., Arrival of Rufus Putnam and pioneers at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers on April 7, 1788.