4 September 1803 Meriwether Lewis, “about two miles above my camp passed the line, which divides the States of Virginia and Pennsylvania on the east side of the river and on the West that of Pennsylvania and Ohio; this line is made visible from the timber having been fell about sixty feet in width, the young timber has spring up but has not yet attained the hight of the other that it is can with ease be traced with the eye a considerable distance”(1) Lewis did not record seeing the stake or post located on the north bank of the Ohio River marking the North-South boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania (now West Virginia). The Post set in 1785 by the respective states and in 1786 used by U. S. Geographer Thomas Hutchins to start the east-west base line for the Northwestern Territory First Seven Ranges Survey. The survey is a mathematical designed system, better known today as a Rectangular Survey or commonly known as the government survey, ordered by the Land Ordinance of 1785. The ordinance divided public land into township, 640 AC sections, half, and quarter sections all for public sale. Thomas Jefferson is credited with proposing the Rectangular Survey System.(2) Today the post location is under water but a monument commemorating the survey starting point is in Ohio on State Route 39 and west of Pennsylvania Route 68, near the intersection of the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia state line intersection (40 Degrees 38.4’N 80 Degrees 31.2′ W).
Sources
(1) Quaife, Milo, The Journals of Lewis and Ordway , The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, page 8. Moulton, Gary, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, V-2, University of Nebraska Press, 1986, page 71.
(2) https://www.britannica.com/event/Northwest-Ordinances .
(3) http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=441&ResourceType=Site
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_beginning
(5) https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-I53-PURL-gpo79237/pdf/GOVPUB-I53-PURL-gpo79237.pdf 6 September 1803 “got on pretty well to Steubenville which we past at 2 OC.” 2 miles below stuck on riffles again and returned to Steubenville in search of horses or oxen to pull boat over riffle”.
(1) First Federal Land Office, built by Act of Congress 10 May 1800. 1st location on 3rd Street approximately 2 blocks from the Ohio River Source:
(1) Quaife, Milo, The Journals of Lewis and Ordway , The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, page 9. Moulton, Gary, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition , V-2, University of Nebraska Press, page 73. https://wwvv.oldfortsteuben.com/