OpenHistoricalMap

Hi, do you have any information about when the boundaries of these counties were extended into Lake Michigan? So far, all I’ve found in the territorial laws and session laws for the Lake Michigan counties are boundary descriptions based on PLSS townships and ranges, or specifically stating that the boundary runs along the shoreline. [1] Were the lakeward boundaries perhaps a later introduction, from after Michigan and neighboring states settled on the state line through the lake?

[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=uECSGi3Qlu4C&pg=PA196

Hey, thanks for checking. I think you are right, the western county descriptions are worded to indicate the lakeshore is the boundary. At some point in time, the boundaries would have changed to include the water (since they do today), but I haven't been able to locate a specific source for that date.

Interestingly, OSM seems to think the counties don’t include water even today. By the way, you might be interested in this broader discussion:

https://forum.openhistoricalmap.org/t/how-should-we-handle-territorial-waters-or-should-we-include-shorelines-in-boundaries/154