Woodland is bounded on the North by Ionia Co., on the East by Eaton Co., on the South by Castleton Twp., and on the West by Carlton Twp.  Chicago, Kalamazoo, and Saginaw RR ran diagonally across the township from section 1 to section 31.  Pere Marquette RR looped through sections 1 and 2.  Part of Jordan Lake takes up about half of section 4.  Little Thornapple River runs from the lake roughly diagonally through sections 4, 9, 8, and 18.  

Range 10W Range 9W Range 8W Range 7W
   Town 4N 
   Town 3N 
   Town 2N 
   Town 1N 
Thornapple Irving Carlton   Woodland
Yankee Springs Rutland Hastings Castleton
Orangeville Hope Baltimore Maple Grove
Prairieville  Barry Johnston Assyria 

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The current method of numbering townships and the 36 sections within each township developed in stages, beginning with the Congressional Act of May 18, 1796.  The baseline for Barry County is also its southern border, so the rows of Barry Co. townships begin with 1 N and continue northward.  The prime meridian is to the east in Ingham Co., so the columns of townships begin with Range 7 W and continue westward.  Michigan gazetteers show Base Line and Meridian Roads.


Sections are located as follows within each township, each being 1 square mile:

6 5 4 3 2 1
7 8 9 10 11 12
18 17 16 15 14 13
19 20 21 22 23 24
30 29 28 27 26 25
31 32 33 34 35 36

[Transcribed by Lynn Kenney, Jan. 2002]