The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-01-21
The Southwestern and Western BouL-
diaries of MARYLAND.


boundary dating back to the grant
MADE by Charles II in May, 1869, to
the Earl ofSt. Adams, Lord Berkeley,
Sir VIM. Morton and John II. Treth-
away of lands lying between the
Kappahannock and Potomac rivers.
ms grant was subsequently vested
by hlng James II in Thomas. Lord
Cuipepper, and from him, by the
marriage of his daughter to Lord
Fairiax, passed into the Fairfax
family. The geography of this coun-
try was not we'll understood at the
time, and the northern and western
limits of the Fairfax domain were
overwhelmingly defined as follow
ing the south SIDE Of the Potomac to
its head, There are two heads of
this liver, however. one that OF the
North Branch, and the other, and the
most western, that of the South
Branch, including between them half
million acres of fertile land, con
stitutirg Mineral, Grant, and parts
of Penlelton, Hardy and Hampshire
counts. If the South Branch of
the Paomac be taken as the bound
airy OF the Culpeper claim, it is evi.
dent that West Virginia will lose a
valuable slice of territory and find
access to the counties of Morgan,
Berkeley and Jefferson reduced to
comparatively narrow strip having
a very Struggling outline. Maryland
claims thisterritory under the terms
of Lord Baltimore's charter, which
called for all the land to the "first
fountain of the Potomac" Assam =
ing it to be fair to claim the western
most head of the river as its "first
fountain" Lord Baltimore early laid
claim to all the land extending to the
head of the South Branch of the Po-
tomac, and protested against the
action of the Virginia claimants who
had undertaken to define his limits
by granting lands to the North
Branch. There was nothing practi-
cal done to throw light upon the
matter under DISPUTE until 1771, when
an examination and survey of both
branches of the Potomac was made
by Col. Thomas Cresap, under the
direction of the proprietary, and he
decided that the South Branch had
the most western source, and was
therefore "the first fountain" This
point being ascertained, the western
boundary of Maryland was of course
to be run upon meridian passing
through it. The French wars, the
revolution and other causes inter-
yened to prevent an early settlement
of the question, and the southwest
ern and consequently the western
| limit Of the State remained unde-
TRIMMED up to 1878, when Maryland,
wearied out with her efforts, agreed
to adopt the source of the North
Branch as the initial point of the
western line. and proposed to Vir-
ginia meeting of commissioners en-
powered to settle the dispute on the
basis of such concession. Virginia
responded to the proposition in form
but not in fact, as her instructions to
her commissioners left nothing open
to negotiation. They were directed
to commence the western boundary
at certain stone planted by Lord
Fairfax, instead of at point to be
determined by fair examination.
The Joint commission met on the
head of the South Branch in
the summer of 1924, when the con-
Trajectory nature of the instructions
under which the representatives of
either State acted being discovered,
their labOrs were discontinued. Fair
fax's stone was not in fact at the ex-
treme western source of the North
Branch. The negotiation resulted in
nothing. Maryland's offer to relin-
quish her claims to the territory under
dispute on certain conditions was not
accepted, and the whole matter was
left where it was before. to be settled
upon its merits. Nothing further
has been done to define properly
Maryland's chartered limits. Col.
Scharf, in his forthcoming History
of Western Maryland, in treating on
this subject. quotes the opinion of
| the late distinguished lawyer and
historian, John V. l.. Mcmahon, who
thought there were two ways of pro-
ceeding by which Maryland might
recover from sovereign sister State
the large territory in question. One
of these-a direct one-would be by
bill praying question as to bound
airy to be quieted the other, more
indirect. would be by raising issue in
a suit for land granted by Maryland
within the disputed territory. at
being then a case of conflicting claims
under grants of different States, it
r. 4 4 L.