Commissioners were appointed in 1732 and again in 1739 to run the line, but they failed to agree, and chancery suits were the result. Finally a decision of Lord Chancellor Hardwick in 1750 was taken as a basis for adjudication, and an agreement was signed July 4, 1760, by which the line between Pennsylvania on the one part and Delaware and Maryland on the other was to be determined as follows:

A due east-west line was to be run across the peninsula from Cape Henlopen to Chesapeake Bay. From the exact middle of this line. a line was to be drawn north which would be tangent to the western arc of a circle having a radius of 12 English statute miles measured horizontally from the center of the town of New Castle. From the tangent point a line was to be drawn due north until it intersected a parallel of latitude 15 miles due south of the southernmost part of the city of Philadelphia. This point of intersection would be the northeast corner of Maryland, and from it the line was to be run west on a parallel as far as it formed the boundary between the two Provinces.

In 1760 commissioners and surveyors were appointed; they spent several years in measuring the base line and the tangent line between Maryland and Delaware. The proprietors became wearied with the delay and sent from England two famous mathematicians, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who verified the work of their predecessors and ran the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, ever since called the Mason and Dixon line and probably the most widely known boundary in the United States. (See fig. 12.) Mason and Dixon determined the latitude of this line, which they located 15 miles south of Philadelphia, to be 39°43'17.6" N. That they were skilled and did their work carefully is shown by the fact that by the resurvey, made 200 years later with modern instruments and methods, the position found for the line at the northeast corner of Maryland differed only 1.9" from that determined by them. The later position is 30°43'19.521" N. (See p. 132.)

Mason and Dixon began work on this line in 1763 but were stopped by Indians in 1767, after having run the line about 244 miles west of the Delaware (230 miles 18 chains 21 links from the northeast corner of Maryland) and thus not quite finishing the work as planned, although it has since been ascertained that they had run about 30 miles beyond the northwest corner of Maryland.8

88

The original stones for 5-mile marks on this line were carved in England from oölitic limestone; Lord Baltimore's coat of arms was shown on the Maryland side and the Penn arms on the PennsylFor a popular description of the work by Mason and Dixon, see Luquer (1931, p.

375).

vania side.

(See fig. 2D.) Intermediate milestones were smaller and were marked "M" and "P" only, on opposite sides.

Because of the removal of the stone at the northeast corner of Maryland and for other reasons, it was deemed desirable to resurvey and re-mark the State boundaries in that locality; consequently Maryland (in 1846), Delaware (in 1847), and Pennsylvania (in 1849) authorized the appointment of commissioners to undertake the task. An Army officer was delegated by them to make the surveys, which were completed in 1850. In the resurvey of the arc boundary and of the adjacent lines, the surveyor in charge unfortunately disregarded "the well-known rule that an actual line upon the ground is to be preferred to the written description of the same line in a deed." He changed the position of the arc boundary as marked in 1701 and assigned to Pennsylvania the triangular strip 31⁄2 miles in length (about 840 acres in area) west of the arc boundary, east of Maryland and south of the Mason and Dixon line, which had previously been assumed to belong to Delaware. This survey was approved by the commissioners from the three States, but no formal action regarding it appears to have been taken by the State legislatures.89

In 1889 and 1900 the Legislatures of Pennsylvania and Maryland authorized the appointment of a joint commission to "ascertain and re-mark" the boundary between the two States. The field work for this survey was commenced in 1900 and completed in 1903. No changes in the line as run by Mason and Dixon were made; straight lines were run between original monuments, and many new stones were set on the lines thus established. The report of the commission, dated January 25, 1907, was published in 1908 by authority of the Legislature of Maryland and in 1909 by Pennsylvania. These volumes contain a description of each of the 225 boundary monuments, including many of the original stones that were repaired and reset; they also contain a bibliography of manuscripts and documents relating to the line, which has more than 2,000 entries.

Positions for a dozen or more points on the Mason and Dixon line have been determined by the U.S. Geological Survey, some of which are as follows:

For report of the surveyor, see Delaware Senate Jour. for 1851, p. 56-109. of the report and a map are filed in the Maryland Land Office at Annapolis.

A copy

In 1889 the Legislatures of Delaware and Pennsylvania authorized the re-marking of the boundary between the two States. The commissioners agreed that the northern boundary of Delaware should run due east from the northeast corner of Maryland to a point 12 miles from the New Castle courthouse and thence follow a curved line passing through as many boundary marks of the 12-mile circle of 1701 as could be identified. The resurvey was made,"0 and 46 marks were set on the arc boundary in 1892-93. The triangular tract assigned to Pennsylvania by the commissioners of 1849 thus reverted to Delaware. The report of the commission and the line as marked by it were "accepted, approved, and confirmed” by the Legislature of Pennsylvania by act of June 22, 1897 (Pennsylvania Laws for 1897, p. 183), but were not formally accepted by the Legislature of Delaware until March 28, 1921. The assent of Congress to the action of the States was given on June 30, 1921 (42 Stat. L. 104). The land part of the Pennsylvania-Delaware line as determined by this survey is 22.87 miles in length.

Commissioners from Virginia and Pennsylvania agreed in 1779 that the boundary between those States should be fixed as follows: 91

That the line commonly called Mason's and Dixon's line be extended due west five degrees of longitude to be computed from the river Delaware, for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania; and that a meridian drawn from the western extremity thereof to the northern limits of the said states, respectively, be the western boundary of Pennsylvania forever.

In order to locate the boundaries as thus described, observations of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites were made in 1784 at Wilmington and at a point estimated to be 5° of longitude west of the Delaware River. While this work was being done the Mason and Dixon line was extended westward by commissioners from Virginia (one of whom was Andrew Ellicott) and from Pennsylvania, and a point was marked for the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, which the astronomic computations showed should be a little more than 12 miles east of the assumed position, where the observatory had been placed. From the southwest corner of Pennsylvania the meridian boundary was run to the north side of the Ohio River. The line between the Ohio and Lake Erie was surveyed and marked in 1785 by another commission.

The southern part of the west boundary was again surveyed and marked in 1883 by commissioners representing the two States. The survey was commenced at the Ohio, and the line was run south to the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, a measured distance of a little

90 For a report of this survey and a historical sketch of the Mason and Dixon line, see Hodgkins (1895).

91 Pennsylvania Dept. Internal Affairs (1887, p. 293); a separate volume of boundary maps accompanies this report. See also Hening (1822, v. 10, p. 519–537).

more than 631/2 miles. Twenty-three of the old monuments were found, and 48 new ones were established. Astronomic positions of several marks on this boundary were determined in 1883 in connection with the resurveys. Two of these positions are as follows: Southwest corner of Pennsylvania, lat 39°43′18.2" N., long 80°31′08.2" W.; near Smiths Ferry on the Ohio River, lat 40°38′27.2" N., long 80°31'07.5" W.

The Ohio-Pennsylvania boundary was resurveyed and re-marked between 1878 and 1882, commencing at a granite monument 6 feet high and 3 feet square at the base, which was erected by the commissioners at a point 2,400 feet south of the edge of Lake Erie. The position of this monument is lat 41°58′15.23" N., long 80°31′10.60" W. (1927 N.A.D.). From this point the line was run south to the Ohio River, a distance of 92 miles. 92

The monument established in 1785 on the north bank of the Ohio in the west boundary of Pennsylvania is of considerable historical importance, for it marks the point from which the first surveys for dividing public land in the United States into ranges and townships were commenced (Peters, 1918, p. 33, 67; Sherman, 1916-33, v. 3, chap. 14).93 This general system of surveys has been extended over all the public-land States and has even been adopted by some foreign countries.

The original marker used as a point of departure has long since disappeared. The location of this marker is referred to as the "point of beginning." A large granite monument was erected by Ohio and Pennsylvania in 1881 for the purpose of remarking the State line. This monument was near the original stake. It was moved to a more conspicuous position in 1961, and a bronze plaque was added commemorating the 175th anniversary of the establishment of the "point of beginning." (Popp, 1960, p. 229.)

By the formation of the State of Ohio from lands ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784 and by Connecticut in 1800 and by the separation of West Virginia from Virginia in 1862, the abovementioned meridian line became the boundary between Pennsylvania on the east and Ohio and West Virginia on the west.

The cession of 1781 by New York to the United States included a triangle of land, about 324 square miles in area, bounded by New York,

For other details concerning the survey of the west boundary of Pennsylvania, see report of Pennsylvania Dept. Internal Affairs (1883), which contains a description of each mark and a plat of the line; see also report for 1887. A historical sketch of the original surveys of the west boundary of Pennsylvania of 1785 and 1786, the report of the resurvey of the Ohio part of this line in 1878 to 1882, descriptions of the boundary stones, and plats of the line were published by the State of Ohio in 1883 (Joint Commission on Pennsylvania and Ohio boundary line, 1883).

See plat of the seven ranges of townships, Ohio Surveys, 1785-1787; U.S. General Land Office file 57, Ohio.

Pennsylvania, and Lake Erie. In order to give Pennsylvania a larger outlet to the lake, this tract, known as the "Erie triangle," was sold by the General Government to that State for $151,640.25," and the deed, dated March 3, 1792, was signed by George Washington.

The east line of the Erie triangle, being part of the west boundary of New York, was first surveyed and marked in 1790. (See p. 120.) In 1869 a new granite monument was placed on this boundary near the lake. In 1885 this monument was repaired, and the boundary was rerun to the south line of New York, a distance of a little more than 18 miles. In all, there were then 51 marks on the line. (See Pennsylvania Dept. Internal Affairs, 1887, p. 590, 592.)

DELAWARE

The area now forming the State of Delaware was originally settled by Sweden. In 1655 it was surrendered to the Dutch, who in turn, in 1664, surrendered it to the English; the Duke of York then took possession of it.

William Penn, who had received in 1681 a grant of the Province. of Pennsylvania, bought or leased from the Duke of York the territory included in present-day Delaware, which was conveyed to him by two deeds of "feoffment" dated August 24, 1682. One conveyed a tract of land within a 12-mile circle about New Castle; the other was for "all that tract of land upon Delaware River and Bay beginning 12 miles south from the town of New Castle and extending south to the Horekills, otherwise called 'Lopen.'" Both leases were for a period of 10,000 years, but they conveyed land to which the Duke of York then had a very uncertain title. A better title was obtained by royal grant soon afterward and immediately transferred to William Penn (Mathews, 1909, p. 150). Lord Baltimore vigorously opposed William Penn's claim, and the matter was settled in 1685 by a royal order to divide the territory equally between the two claimants. For a description of the line as marked, see pages 125-127. (Dallas, 1797, p. 24).

In 1701 William Penn granted a charter under which the Province of Pennsylvania and the territories (as Delaware was then called) were authorized to act as separate governments, though both were still under the proprietary government of William Penn.

Acting on the advice of the Continental Congress, the people of Delaware called a convention, which met at New Castle in August, 1776, and on September 10 adopted a constitution for the three counties

This is at the rate of 75 cents an acre for an estimated area of 202,187 acres (315.92 sq. mi.). The area scaled from the most recent maps (including Presque Isle, 3 sq. mi.) is 324 sq. mi.