Michigan’s Southern Line May Be the Last Contested Border in America

America is a few years away from the country's 250th birthday. You might think the nation would have its internal boundaries figured out by this point. But Michigan's southern border is, surprisingly, one big question mark.

Perhaps, more specifically, the Michigan-Indiana border. Michigan and Ohio share a well defined line that begins with a boundary marker known as Border Post 70 on the Lost Peninsula.

When Michigan-Indiana-Ohio all meet 14 miles due southwest of Hillsdale, things get a little more complex. The centuries-old survey between Michigan and Indiana is lost to time as are the boundary stakes. So while the two states think they know where the border lies - they don't actually know.

It's not that the border is off wildly by miles. But feet? Yes. Enough to put some one who thought they lived in Michigan into Indiana or vice versa? Certainly.

The YouTube channel Restless Viking recently put a spotlight on the issue visiting the MI-IN-OH tripoint and the odd border community of Ray and attempts to find the exact border lost in the woods.

READ MORE: These Are Michigan's 4 Southernmost Points

There is a state commission working on the border. Michigan has a body known as the "Michigan-Indiana State Line Commission" that includes a surveyor from each Michigan county that borders Indiana. They group met at the end of March 2024 - it was the commission's first meeting in over a year. Despite the name, the commission is a Michigan commission and has no members from Indiana.

The minutes from the latest meeting of the commission makes reference to a complimentary Indiana body, but a simple Google search does not turn up any information on a similar group from the Hoosier state.

So perhaps, someday, we'll know exactly where Michigan ends. Or perhaps it will just be a pretty close approximation.