Explains how a single system of weights and measures was developed in order to help survey and map out the vast lands west of the Ohio River and examines the impact of the system on American history and culture.

Originally published: New York : Walker & Co., 2002. Includes maps of: Thomas Hutchin's map; Louisiana Purchase; Plan of Washington, D.C. 1792; Commissioner's map of New York City, 1811.

1.The in 1. The invention of landed property -- 2. Precise confusion -- 3. Who owned America -- 4. Life, liberty, or what -- 5. Simple arithmetic -- 6. A line drawn in the wilderness -- 7. The French dimension -- 8. Democratic decimals -- 9. The birth of the metric system -- 10. Dombey's luck -- 11. The end of Putnam -- 12. The immaculate grid -- 13. The shape of cities -- 14. Hassler's passion -- 15. The dispossessed -- 16. The limit of enclosure -- 17. Four against ten -- 18. Metric triumphant -- Epilogue : the witness tree.0