Aubbeenaubbee reserve line

A lot of the roads in the upper midwest follow section lines, creating a checkerboard pattern on the landscape. A lot of roads depart from these section lines, too. At this intersection in Fulton County Indiana, County Road 400W follows a section line. County Road 475N does not. Instead, it follows what had once been the south boundary of Aubbeenaubbee’s reserve. This reserve only existed for 6-7 years, from the time of a treaty made in late 1832 in which the Potawatomi people ceded most of their remaining land in Indiana, until 1839 1838 when they were evicted from the state. And I’m not sure whether the reserve officially existed for the last few of those years.

The intersection in the photo is located at the center of the red circle in this map fragment from the 1883 Fulton County atlas. The information on that map suggests that the reserve boundary had been surveyed. Sometime I want to find out who the surveyor was and exactly when the survey took place, just in case it leads me to more bicycling destinations.

A purplish line is drawn around a road that follows the treaty line boundary — the road now known as 475N.

Looking to the east from that same spot, the reserve boundary is marked by the tree line to the left of the soybean field. I don’t know if it still is a property line boundary.

This map fragment shows some of my bike routes in the area. The intersection in question is at the center of the red circle. If you click on this piece of a map, you’ll be taken to a web page that shows the map from which it was taken.