The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-02-16

itftSG ''lloNt through the COiuIuIjS
of the Cumberland Cicilian, and
ObliGe
CHARLES l.. BOLAN,
WILLIAM FINZEL,
CASPER DRESS,
And others.
Mt. Savage, Fire Clay, Jan. 25, 90
GOV. LOwNDEs' ANSWER.
February 4, 1899.
| Messrs Charles l.. Bolan, Jeremiah
Mckenzie, William Finzel, Casper
Dress and others, Mount Savage,
Maryland;
Sirs:-I am in receipt OF your letter
Of the twenty-fifth inst. regarding
/ the location of the boundary line be-
! tween Ailegany and Garrett counties.
BY the original act Laws of Maryland
1872, Chapter 212) it was enacted,
That all that part Of AIlegany coun-
/ ty lying west and north OF a line be-
! ginning at the summit of Big Back
| bone or Savage Mountain where that
mountain is crossed by the Mason and
| Dixon line, and running thence in a
/ straight line to the middle of Savage
River where it empties into the Poto-
mac River" should be formed into a
new county to be called the county
of Garrett. Two attempts were made
prior to the present survey to locate
this line, the first in 1872 by Mr.. Dan.
Chisholm at that time county sur
veyor for Ailegany county, and the
| second in 1878 by Mr. John Harmed,
/ county surveyor of Garrett county.
Neither of these surveys was com
pleted in accordance with the provis-
| ions of the act and have never been
legally accepted.
The Chisholm line did not comply
with the act Of 1872 for the following
reasons
1. That the law was not "a straight
| line connecting two given terminal
| points, one at the summit Of Big
Backbone or Savage mountain" the
other at the middle of Savage river.
, That the line was started at the
southern terminal point at the mouth
OF Savage and was run upon an
| enormously assumed direction North
260 East which resulted in the line
| terminating upon Little Savage
mountain rather than upon Great
| Savage mountain.
| That Chisholm did not connect
his last station on Little Savage
mountain with the point on Great
Savage mountain, called for by law.
4 That no official return of the
survey was made by Chisholm as
called for by the act.
5 That Chisholm regarded his line
as merely trial line and it was his
| Intention to run Il second and final
line on "a corrected course. plan
never carried out.
This line as run by Chisholm was
Il very crooked line but if he had con
nected his last station on Little Saw
age mountain with the point on the
Great Savage mountain called for by
| the act and had made proper official
return Of this survey as legally re-
| quired, the Chisholm line might to-
day be regarded as the true bound
AIRY. He fulfilled none of these re-
| quirements as called for by law so
that the line has no real legal status.
The Harmed line began at the prop
err point on Great Savage Mountain
but was run upon course that
brought it out at Westernport, con-
siderably to the east of the terminal
point (the Savage River called for by
the act, and as a result encroached on
| Allegany county southwark.
1t is stated that second line was
run on Il corrected course but as it
was not marked in permanent man
ner the line has never been adopted
by either county. Moreover, the
methods employed in running these
lines could not have resulted in "a
straight line" as called for by the act
| of 1872.
The present line which was run by
the best methods of modern survey
ing and which has been verified
throughout it's entire extent, is
straight line connecting the
summit of Big Backbone or Saw
age Mountain where that mountain
is crossed by Mason and Dixon's line
with the middle Of Savage river where
it empties into the Potomac river and
is the first line that conforms to the
act of 1872, which prescribed the sep
aration of the new county of Garrett
from that of Allegany.
[ am, very truly yours,
LLOYD LOWNDES.