The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1903-04-18


vcyors met with many difficulties and
their minute book is full of entries about
tn" swamps and mill dams that obstruct-
rd their operations. However. they COM
plctrd the due north line on the oath of
October. 1t terminated near the road
leading from Head of Elk to New Cas-
tie. The Commissioners soon afterwards
met ut New Castle and gave them i'll
StructionS about running the radius from
that place toward the terminus of the
due north line, which they proceeded to
locate and measure Immediately after
wards and finished in the early part of
the winter of 1861. At this time the
connection of Mcssrs. John Iukcns.
Archibald Mclean, Thomas Garnet.
and Jonathan Hall, appears to have ter
minated with this line and nothing NOR"
of practical nature was done toward
settling the dispute until the 10Th of
November, 1853, at which time Mcssrs.
Charles Mason and jeremiah Dixon.
having been employed by the Commits
Sioners at the instance of the proprirtor%
of the respective provinces. landed mt
Philadelphia and Immediately COM
mcnccd work.
McSSrS. Mason and Dixon were cmin-
"nt mathcmaticianS and astronomers
The former had been sent to India by
the British Government to observe the
transit of Venus. which occurred in 1853.
hut the vessel in which he sailed having
been captured by French cruiser. he
was put on shore ut the Cape of Good
Hope. ut which place he performed the
work he otherwise would have done in
India. These men appear to have been
"mincntly qualified for the work they
were employed to perform. the best rvd-
"nce of which is the accurate manner ia
which it was done.
They landed at Philadelphia. ON No
vcmher 10Th. I'i5. and ut once went to
work 10 ascertain the latitude of tn"
southern part of that city. in order to
| determine the location of the due east
| and west line. which was To divide the
| two provinces. and which 10y the trrinS
| of the agreement. was to he rum at the
| distance of fifteen English statute miles
| south of the southern part of that civ
They followed the instructions which the
| commissioners had given 10 their pre-
d"c"sSoIS. and kept two copies of Il daily
| journal. one of which is in the Land
| Office ut Annapolis. the other is in pos
session of the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania. The copy belonging 10
| til" Historical Society was found some
years ago in Nova Scotia, and was pur-
CHASED for the SIM of fly" hundred dol
| lars.
| THESE Journals were kept upon the or
| diunw f""ISrap paper in use III that
| time" Each page has Il column upon the
| lnFi Iibl IL, !, ;..I,
the date of each day of the years they
wcr" at work running the lines. Oppo-
| site the date i entered Il short account of
each days work, which was signed by
each of them. The first entries in their
Journal are as follows '1T6;. Nuvrm-
hrr 10th. arrived in Philadelphia 10th.
attended Il meeting of the Commissioners
app nintch to settle the bounds of Penn
Sylvania: 18th. wrote to his EXrclency
lloratio Sharp. Esq. Governor of Mary
land Sgnifying our arrival at Philadcl-
| phia.
| The two astronomers had building
erected i'll Philadelphia. which they used
| as I'm observatory. 1t was no doubt a
| rlidr and temporary structure. for it cost
| but little. and was completed and in use
i'll nine days after they landed. But rude
and fragile a it was, it was probably the
first structure of the kind erected in the
| nitrd States. In this building they set
up their sector on the 25th, and their
transit instrument on the 18th. and found
that they had received no damage while
being transported across the Atlantic
| Ocean.
| The point determined upon as the most
| harm ,,.t Of l,1, I
house on the north side of South street.
| then called Cedar street. They were en-
! gagged in determining the latitude of this
| point until the early part of January
| Tl. and aSccrtained it t" be 30 degrees
~ minutes. 29.l seconds north. While.
"HrirS but little frorl the latitude % tho
| same place rs determined by modern as
trnmmcrS. Having completed their
work in Philadelphia. they took down the
| observatory and placed it and some of
their equipments in three wagons. and
having packed the telescope and some
other fragile articles in their beds and
placed them on the springs of an old
fashioned two-whrrlcd chair. they start
"rl westward to the forks of Brandywnr.
for the purpose of aSccrtaining by means
of astronomical observations II point in
the same parallel of latitude rs the old
house on South street. They reached
their destination in due time and having
regretted their observatory. procerdr
/" ascertain the location of the required
point. which occupied them until the LIST
of the ensuing March, They then en-
pI"y"l aN-mcn and proceeded to clear Il
vista. i'll order to trace and measure the
lin" fifteen miles south. which they COM
plelrd ON the 18th of the following
April. This line terminated in Mill Creek
Hundred. near Muddy Run. in what is
now New Castle County. Delaware
After verifying their work and making
til" necessary preparations they repaired
10 New Castle. from which place they
set out on til" 18th of June 1864. for
the middle point in the line across the
peninsula. They travelled in wagons,
and were four days in reaching their dcs-
tination.