The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-01-13

appropriation which has usually been
made to prosecute the work. When,
in 1890, the Legislature of Maryland
passed an act authorizing and direct
ing the Attorney-General TO bring
suit in the Supreme Court of the
UnitedStates to settle the controversy
it appropriated the sum of $500 to pay
the costs of the suit. The costs of the
surveys, which are now being com
pleted, are part OF the costs of the
case in the Supreme Court. The en-
gineer corps, which has been at work
since last August, have been prosecu-
ting the work entirely upon faith, as
there is no available money to pay
them. The line is about thirty-eight
miles long and the magnitude of the
work can better be understood by
comparing it with what has preceded
it. For example, Governor Sharpe,
in III, appointed Thomas Cresap and
others to survey this line. They en-
tered upon this work, but after sur
veying some nine miles OF more aban-
doned the work for want of money
and provisions. In 1872 the board of
revenue allowed for the work done by
Cresap and his associates on nine
miles of the line the sum of Fl. .056 los.
I'D. or. in round numbers, $4,000.
The Legislature OF 1890 appropriated
the sum of $500 to pay all the costs.
including the survey of thirty-eight
miles in length. The dispute between
Maryland and Pennsylvania origi-
mated about the same time the trou-
BILE began between Maryland and Vir-
ginia, but that dispute was settled
long ago, whilst the Virginia dispute
has been allowed to harass a large
number of citizens. without any fault
on their part, for a century and half.
THE FAIRFAX STONE.
a dispute having arisen between
Lord Fairfax and the colony Of Yir-
ginia as to the line between the Fair
fax lands and the territory Of the col
ony, the government of Virginia and
Lord Fairfax, in 1916, set stone boun-
Diary at what was supposed to be the
North Branch of the Potomac. That
stone since that time has been known
as the Fairfax stone. It was planted
and established, however, to settle
the dispute between Fairfax and Vir-
ginia. Maryland was not q party to
it and the stone was set up without
the knowledge or consent of Charles,
Lord Baltimore, the then proprietary
Of Maryland. When the matter of
planting the Fairfax stone came to
the knowledge Of the proprietary of
Maryland he objected TO the estab
| lishment of the head of the North
Branch of the Potomac as his boun-
Diary and at that time set up his claim
to the head of the South Branch of
the Potomac as first fountain of that
stream called for in his grant. From
that time to the present there has
been more or less contention as to
which of these streams is really the
source or first fountain of the Poto-
mae.
In 1771 the Government of Mary
land appointed a commission to sur
vey this boundary and directed the
commissioners to proceed to the head
of the South Branch and run the line
from that point. A reference to the
pleadings in the case now pending in
! the Supreme Court of the United
States will show that the bill of com
| plant filed by the State of Maryland
as well as the answer to the defend
ants cross bill, claims the head of the
South Branch as the source or first
fountain of the Potomac river, and,
| therefore, the beginning of the boun-
Diary line in controversy.
J THE MARYLAND CHARTER.
After the dispute had taken dei-
mite shape and was well understood
by the parties interested, to wit, on
the Goth day of June, 1916, the consti-
| tutional convention of Virginia en-
phatically disclaimed all rights of pro-
prietary over the territory contained
within the charter of Maryland which
had Heretofore been claimed by the
State of Virginia On the other hand
the first constitutional convention of
Maryland, in October, 1776, declared
that the State of Virginia had no
right or title to any of the territory
included in the charter of Maryland.
! Under these emphatic declarations of
both States the boundary line must
be fixed and determined by the grant
to Lord Baltimore. That far the
matter was definitely settled, but the
point of difficulty which remained
and the question which has continued
to perplex those who have been called
upon to deal with the subject is, where
is the "source or first fountain of the
| Potomac?n
THE DUE NORTH LINE.
All agreed that the boundary is a
due north line from that OOint but