The evening times., 1896-10-27

council, hoping TO right the objections Of
Baltimore, decided upon the following:
That for avoiding further differences
| the tract of land lying between the Bay of
Delaware and the Eastern Sea on the one
| side and the Chesapeake Bay ON the other
| be iii vided into equal parts by line from
the latitude OT Cape hcniupcn To the IOth
degree of north latitude, the southern
| boundary Of Pennsylvania toy charter, and
jnat the one-haII thereof lying toward the
| Bay of Delaware and the Eastern Sea be
adJudged to belong to his majesty and the
other half To the Lord Baltimore, as CON-
| priSed in his charter"
The lT32 agreement entered into by the
sons OF William Penn and Charles Lord
| Baltimore, grcat-grandSon OF the pioneer
patentcc or the province of Maryland,
which accounts for the noticeable bounda-
rieS Of Delaware. is as follows:
That scmicirCle should be drawn at
twelve English statute miles around New
Castle, agreeably to tie deed Of the Duke
of York TO William Penn in 1862; that an
east and west line should be drawn, be-
ginning at Cane Henlopen (Which was
admitted to he te!ow Cape Cornelius, the
present Cape Hcnlopcul, and running west
ward to tie exact middle of the peninsula
between the two bays Of Chesapeake and
Delaware, and the end Of the line inter
seeing il in latitude of Cape Henlopen {,
line should he run nOrthward so i 5 10 form a
tangent with the periphery of the semi
circle at New Castle, draw with the radius
of twelve statute EGglis miles, whether
such a line should take due north course
or not; that after the said northwardly lire
should touch the New Castle semicircle
it should be run further northward until
it reached the same latitude as fifteen Eng
liSh statute miles due south of the most
southern part of the city of Philadelphia,
that from the northern point of such line a
due west line should lie run at lea st for the
present across the SusqUchanna River and
twenty-five miles beyond it, and to the
western limits of PENNSYLVANIA, when oc-
casion and the Improvements of the country
should require that that part of the due
west line not actually run, though imagi-
nary, should be considered to be the true
boundary OF Maryland and Pennsylvania
and that the route should be well
marked by trees and other natural objects,
and designated by stone pillars, sculptured
with the arms Of the contracting parties,
facing their respective possessions.
EXTRAVAGANT COMMISSIONERS.
The appointment of commissioners fol-
lowed who ran lines for the New Castle
circle in 1882, 1879, 1850 and 1850. In
some instances the commissioners We're
extravagant. it being recorded that the
body of 1850 had several items of ex-
penses: "A hogshead of port wine, II gal
ing in all 27 pounds IL shilhngs and
pence"
on July 4, 1850, an agreement based
on the decision of Lord Chancellor Hard
wick handed down in 1880 was signed by
the representatives of the lands in qucS-
ton and three years Were spent in set.
Ting the boundary between Pennsylvania
and Delaware. The commissioners ran the
east and west peninSrlar line, the 12-milc
circle in part, and established the tangent
point in the periphery of the circle.
Their progress was so dsappointngly
slow to the proprietaries that they dis
solved existing rela tons and engaged
Mason and Dixon to finish the work.
They were Ito mark, run out, settle. fix
and determine all such parts of the Cir
Gle, marks, lines and boundaries as were
| mentioned i'll the several articles or coin
missions, and were not completed" They
were to receive, in addition to support, 10
shillings 6 pence per day each, coming
and returning, and guinea daily while
i'll this country. on November / D l 763, they
| arrived. and soon afterward they had an
| observatory erected in the southern part of
Philadelphia, which was probably the first
of the kind i'll this country.
Mason and Dixon found the New Castle
| circle, run by previous surveyors. of as
s;stance to them, and in the fall OF T64 they
caused stene to be planted, fixing the
northeast corner of Maryland This point
was latitude 80 degrees AZ minutes. 26 3
seconds. and on this parallel they proceeded
due westward, making vistas eight yards
wide through the forests. in the middle of
which the posts were set up that marked
the line of the parallel run.
The work continued until within thirty
six miles OF the entire distance to be run