The Wilmington daily Republican., 1891-12-15
Facts Touching the State Boundary
Question.

tine afJlcieS IN Tile Every evening OF
November 30th aud December End, on
the State Boundary" etc., the former
giving the Views OF our antiquarian
fellow-citizen Amos O. Brinton, the
latter those of correspondent M"
Doubtless Mr.. Brinton has read
much, and knows many rusty facts
touching long mooted historical ques.
tlons bearing upon the subject, and
makes several very positive state
ments; but am compelled to say for
reasons now to be given that the COR
respondent M is much nearer the
truth.
II Mr.. Rrlnton and all other inqnir-
ers will read Chapter XII OF Vol. of tho
late history OF Delaware, p ublished in
1883 and headed Boundary Disputes
and Settlement" they will find an able
history OF the loug and sometimes
bloody contentious or border warfare,
Letween the citizens OF Maryland and
Pennsylvania, extending back to the
chickering's between the Dutch and Eng
lish as early as 1921; accom- panied with
statement of dates and historical
books of reference, throwing full light
upon the Gu uses thereof. and com
pleta definition of the final settlements
had and established.
Mr.. Brinton's reading must have
been too limited, or he never could
state that the ''flat-iron" as they call 1t,
belonged to Maryland.
The decision of Lord Chancellor
Hurdwlck in May. 1850, defined the f.
nal settlement between Frederick,
Lord Baltimore, and the descendants
ofAWilliam Penn, and was but u ratiil-
cation of Lord Baltimore'5 agreement
with the Penn's, dated May 10TH 1872.
This agreement. confirmed by a de-
cree in Chancery in 1850, as above
stated, was not run out and marked
npon the ground until 1t WIS finished
by tho scientists Mason and Dixon"
These gentlemen wore selected and
employed by Lord Baltimore and
Thomas and Richard Penn In 1903, to
carry out and mark on the land. the
lines agreed upon in the elaborate
agreement between tho Penns and
Lord Baltimore under date OF lTJ0, as
confirmed by the Chaucery decreei and
the work was done an approved by
a Joint commission of MHrylanders
and Pennsylvaniaus, being finished in
1868.
Asan exhibit of the full settlement
of the ''iiat-iron" question M well as
other questions, here quote an alb
breviafed but substantial statement
from the elaborate report OF Mason
and Dixon; namely:
1--WE have run out, settled and de-
termined II straight line beginning at
the middle of the eust and west line
defined In articles of July 4th, 1850 as
run by other commissioners OF Lord
Baltimore and the penns, across the
peninsula from Clpo Henlopen to
Chesapeake Bay, the exact middle cf
which limo is at the distance of 81
miles. 300 perches from the verge of
the main ocean. And that we have OK
tended straight line from said mid
de tIpoint 81 H.. rs chains and so
links up the peninsula until it touched
and made u tangent to the
western part of the periphery
of circle described at the
horizontal distance of ~ statute miles
from the centre Of the town OF New
Castle, and have marked and perpetu-
ated said tangent line by setting up
one stone at the beginning thereof as
described; and have also erected in
said tangent line remarkable stones at
the end OF every mile. every fifth one
therof being graved ON the cust by the
arms OF the Penns, and on the west by
the arms OF Lord Baltimore, and all
the other intermediate etones being
marked with the letter "P" on tie
easierly side and with the letter M "
on the westerly side. And we have
fixed in the 12-mile circle at the tan.
gent point aforesaid stone with the
arms OF Lord baltimore Sraved on the
west side and the arms Of the said
Penns graved on the cast side"
Before proceeding with the quota
tions from Mason's and Dixon's report
special point may be defined that
may have sometimes been overlooked.
II is this: When the tangent line of
the Peninsula above described was 10.
Gated, it was found necessary to run
IL about 81 degrees west of north, that
it might exactly touch the delaware
circle as tangent thereto. This caus'
cd the tangent point TO he 5S.05 chains
south from an exactly west line from
the centre OF New Castle,
The consequence was, that when
Mason and Dixon on coming to the
tangent point p" where, according
to the agreement they were locating
by, they were forced to turn the boun'
diary line due north, and IL required a
detection OF about 3Is degrees TO the
right, causing said line to cut small
segment from the territory now of
Delaware (as alluded to by correspon-
dent ND. 1t extends from 'P" 10
"A" about 118 chains long Ly l.Td
chains wide In the middle pointed at
each end. and containing only one full
acre of land.
Correspondent M is correct In say
ing that this small segment still be.
longs to Delaware; for tho circular
boundary was fixed in 1889 by decd
from the Duke of York to William
Penn, and was not matter of dispute
as appears to he confirmed and aek-
ilowledged by Mason and Dixon in the
third paragraph OF theii report OF 1868.
wherelu they say that they have run
out tho westerly side OF that small
segment and marked it with three
stones, "one of which" (near the mid
die thereof is marked with the letter
"P" on tho east and the letter M" on
the west sides thereof thus showing
that their meaning and decision was
that the arc and not the chord of that
small segment oil the IL mile circle,
was to remain intact as the boundary
OF Penns ldnds-now the territory of
Delaware.
But as regards the 'ilat-iron" ESQ
termed) we repeat. there can be no
doubt, since hason and Dixon 20 on
as follows, to tell us in the second
paragraph of their report what they
did, namely:
That FROM the end OF said straight
line tangent point ~ We have run
out, settled and determined due
north line OF tho length OF five miles
one chain and fifty links to II parallel
OF latitude iiftenn miles due south
from the most southern pult OF the
city OF Philadelphia, and in order to
perpetuate the said due north line. we
have erected aud set up ono unmarked
stone at the point whore the said line
tmtersects tile circle and three other
ut,,nna nt u tnila .lfatnnaN Frny,, pu1h