The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-11-14
How Mason and Dixon Surveyed
the Boundaries Between
PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND.
Continued Until They Reached the War
path of Hostile IndanS--Set up
Stones That Still Remain
as They Were Origin
ally Placed.

slave-holding from the nom slave-holding
States. Time and again it was referred to
as such by speakers on the floor of Con-
gress, and it is one Of the most widely
quoted geographical lines in America
The line was run by Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon, mathematician and sur
veyoIs of London, between the years 1868
and 1867, for the purpose of settling dis
puted boundaries between the provinces of
Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The question arose from misstatements
in the original grants Of the provinces,
resulting in disputes between the families
OF William Penn and Lord Baltimore. In
1872 an agreement was entered into by
representatives of the proprietaries respect
ing the boundaries Of Pennsylvania, Mary
land and Delaware, the first and last named
provinces then in the possession of PENIS
family. The difficulty of tracing the
curved line between these two provinces
executed by Mason and Dixon. Penn, in
1850, was interested in an application he
had made for a grant of land, and had sug-
gested to Sir John Werden, agent for the
Duke of York, brother Of Charles II, that
his lordship reserve the territory II miles
north of New Castle, Del, the duke hay
ing expressed a desire to retain the land 20
or 80 miles north of the same town. The
distance agreed upon was II miles. PENIS
representatives soon afterward engaged on
the plantation, when they discovered that
Lord Baltimores patent, if continued to
tho 10th degree of latitude, would embrace
the site of Philadelphia, and leave the
province harborless.
TRYING TO FIX THE DIFFERENCE.
The Duke of York, hoping to right
matters, gave Penn deed for New Castle
and the plantation 70 miles around it in
1852. A second instrument conveyed to
Penn all of the plantation from New Castle
southwark to Cape lIenlopen.
Lord Baltimore'a protest against such
disposals Of territory in his charter reached
the duke, who had now succeeded his
brother on the throne. In 1855 the Kings
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 divided into equal parts by line from
the latitude of Cape IIenlopen to the 10th
degree Of north latitude, the southern
boundary of Pennsylvania by charter and
that the one-half 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 COM
prised in his charter
The 1882 agreement entered into by the
sons of William Penn and Charles Lord
Baltimore, great grandson Of tho pioneer
patentee of the province OF Maryland,
which accounts for the noticeable boundar-
les of Delaware, as follows:
THAT a semi-crcle should be drawn at
IL English statute miles around New
Castle, agreeably to the deed OF the Duke
OF York to William Penn in 1852; that an
east and west line should be drawn, begin
ming at Cape Henlopcn (Which was ad-
mitted to be below Cape Cornelius the
present Cape Henlopen), and running west
ward to the exact middle Of the peninsula
between the two bays Of Chesapeake and
Delaware, and the end of the line inter-
sectng it i'll latitude Of Cape lIenlopen; q
line should be run northward so az to form
tangent with the periphery of the semi
circle at New Castle, draw with the radius
of IL statute English miles, whether such
line should take n due north course or
not; that after the said northwardly line
should touch the New Castle semi circle it
should be run further northward until it
reached the same latitude as Is English
statute miles due south OF the most south
ern part of the city of Philadelphia; that
from the northern point of such line due
"SS' INV ohouiu iC iui w leelSu LOT Vic
present, across the Susquehanna river, and
25 miles beyond it, and to the western
limits OF Pennsylvania, when occasion and
the Improvements of the country should
require; that that part of the due west line
not actually run, though imaginary, should
be considered to be the true boundary Of
Maryland and Pennsylvania X II and
that the route should be we'll marked by
trees and other natural objects, and desig-
mated by stone pillars, sculptured with the
arms OF the contracting parties, facing their
respective possessions. ~
EXTRAVAGANT, TARDY COMMISSIONERS
The appointment of commissioners fol-
lowed, who ran lines for the New Castle
circle in 1872, 1879, 1850 and 1850. In
some instances the commissioners were ex-
travagrant, it being recorded that the body
Of 1850 mad several items OF expenses: "a
hogshead of port wine. II gallons of spirits
and AZ gallons of rum, costing in all 81
pounds II shilling and 6 pence"
On July 4, 1850, an agreement based on
the decision Of Lord Chancellor Hardwick