The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1900-09-13
MASON AND DrxsoN.s LINE.

Delaware, Maryland and Pennsyl-
vania have each appropriated money
for resurvey of Mason and Dixson's
line and for the restoration Of the an.
cient landmarks, many Of which have
been removed. The old line was run
lao years ago to mark the boundary
between Pennsylvania aud Delaware,
Maryland and Virginia. It was not,
as has often been supposed, the parallel
OF 1851 degrees fixed by the Missouri
compromise as the northern limit for
the extension OF slavery into the terri.
tories. Furthermore, Mason and Dix
sons line had nothing to do with the
name of Dixie. When General Albert
Pike wrote
Southrons hear your country call you,
Upl lest worse than death befall you!
To arms! To arms! To arms in Dixie!
he was not referring to the small strip
OF country bounded on the north by
the famous line. Charles Mason and
jeremiah DixsOn, who made the sur
vey, were English civil engineers, who
had no suspicion of the significance
that later generations would attach to
their work.
The original grants to William Penn
and Lord Baltimore fixed the boun.
dairy between their colonies at the
fortietll parallel: This line was later
found to pass north of Philadelphia.
Negotiations followed for thirty years
and then q commission began q new
survey. Its progress was so slow that
the propriet0rs of the colonies hired the
two English engineers to complete the
work. They arrived i'm Philadelphia
in November, 1854, and began opera
tons the following spring. Through
the forests they cut a vista" eight feet
wide, and ut the end of every mile they
set up a stone. Every fifth mile post
I'm this long procession through the
wilderness was larger than the other
four and bore on the north face the
arms of Thomas and Richard Penn and
ON the south, shield of Frederick Lord
Baltimore. The intermediate stones
were engraved with up" on the
north and an IN" OH the south face.
One of the large monuments IL pre-.
served in Baltimore by the Maryland
Historical Society, and some of them
stand in their accustomed places.
The removal of many of these marks
has left the boundary line I'm doubt in
places, and the new survey is to rem
edy this as well as to perpetuate the
historic line. BY the summer of 1867
Mason and DixsOn had reached point
N4 miles west of the Delaware and
were within thirty-six miles Of their
projected terminus when Indians
stopped their operations. So accurate
was their work that when the United
States had the line resurveyed fifty
years ago Maryland gained less than
two acres.
AS the southern boundary of Penn
sylvania marked the northern limit of
slavery i'm the east, all the southern
and slave holding states came to be
generally referred to as south of Mason
and Dixson's line. AT the same time
the south was gradually becoming
known as Dixie. The name was pop
uiarized 10y the familiar minstrel song
Den wish was in Dixie. hoo-ray! hoo-ray,
In Dixie land. we'll took our stand,
To lib and die for Dixie.
Away, away, away down south in Dixie,
Away, away, away down south in Dixie.
But, while the words are much alike,
ON" and Dixie" The latter name
came from the $40 notes Of the famous
Citizens' bank of New Orleans, on
which the denomination WAS printed
in French, rs dix" (tem. These notes
were widely circulated us "dixies," AMI
~, the %Mtl brcan,e known along the
whole Mississippi and Obi" rivers as
"Dixie land. "-Kans;ss City Star.