the townships are numbered from the Michigan meridian and Michigan baseline because at the time they were surveyed, the area was considered to be a part of the Michigan Territory. A strip of land was given to Indiana when it became a state in 1816. Since this land had not been surveyed, the Indiana portion was surveyed with the rest of Indiana. However in Michigan, the southernmost tier of townships are truncated. The townships were surveyed and sections numbered as if they were in whole townships, except that the southernmost survey townships were only instead of the usual square (). Sections 19–24 in each township were chopped approximately in half, while sections 25–36 simply do not exist for these survey townships. To compensate for the smaller size, some of the civil townships formed from these survey townships were given additional sections of land from adjacent townships, as for example, White Pigeon Township in St. Joseph County and Three Oaks Township and New Buffalo Township in Berrien County. Some others of these smaller townships were merged into adjoining townships, as in Porter Township in Cass County. Similarly, many of the civil townships in Michigan along the Ohio border have somewhat more or less than the standard 36 square miles. See also List of principal and guide meridians and base lines of the United States Meridian-Baseline State Park References Further reading Pre-statehood history of Michigan Geography of Michigan Named meridians Meridians and base lines of the United States 1815 establishments in Michigan Territory Native American history of Michigan