Original Government Plats

43 USC 751, Eighth. These field books shall be returned to the Secretary of the Interior who shall also cause a fair plat to be made of the townships and fractional parts of townships contained in the lands, describing the subdivisions thereof, and the marks of the corners. This plat shall be recorded in books to be kept for that purpose; and a copy thereof shall be kept open at the office of the Secretary of the Interior or of such agency as he may designate for public information, and other copies shall be sent to the places of the sale, and to the Bureau of Land Management.

Plat Photo

Government Land Office Records/Bureau of Land Management

The federal government survey (utilizing the Public Land Survey System – “PLSS”) created the original boundaries in the state of Michigan, as it did in 29 other public land states. The PLSS consisted of a series of statutes that were passed by Congress from 1785 to 1832. The boundaries are townships, sections, and subsection lines, with the smallest being quarter-quarter sections or 40 acres or fractional portions of all of them. Boundaries are also water bodies, Indian lands and foreign claims. These boundaries and the contents (acreages) within them can never be changed in accord with those federal statutes. More importantly, there is absolutely no authority which allows the State of Michigan and local governmental bodies to interfere in any manner with those original survey boundaries. Fenton Township in Genessee County is used as an example.

Lake Fenton is labeled No. 1, Pine Lake is No. 2 and Lake Byram is labeled No. 3 in the original government plat dated 1823. These 3 navigable lakes were meandered (created) and the acreage within the meanders of those 3 lakes was excluded from the survey. This unsurveyed, navigable acreage was/is state or public property as of the time Michigan became a state. The state gave a form of title (called riparian) of this unsurveyed (excluded) bottomland within the meanders of the water bodies to adjacent owners but, kept an easement over the water body for the benefit of the public. This public trust provides the state with an easement for protection of public interest in the water body. All other property in Fenton Twp was surveyed which amounted to a net of 21,560.60 acres after the acreage of bottomland of the 3 lakes was subtracted from the township. The surveyed acreage was sold to the public as land whether or not water exists upon it. Chains of title of those surveyed acres of land in the township exist to this day. Total township acreage within the boundary lines of the sections and subsections including the government lots is forever unchangeable. Michigan, which includes its judiciary, executive department and legislature as well as local governments, has no jurisdiction to ever change any aspect of this township plat, or to act in any manner that is contrary to the legal subdivision boundaries as set forth within it.