The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-12
MASON AND DIXON LINE
IT IS BEING REMARKED AT COST OF $5O PER MILE.
Pretty Markers With Goats of Arms of Maryland and Pennsylvania on Opposite Faces.
 Church Cut in Two.

of Maryland and Pennsylvania on Opposite Faces.
 Church Cut in Two.
 Cumberland. Md, Special to Richmond Hmes-Dispatch.
 There are many popular errors regard ing the Mason and Dixon line. a bound ary laid out in colonial days which later figured prominently in the affairs of the republic. The work of remarking or re- storing. as 1t were, this line is rapidly nearing completion under the direction of joint commission of Maryland and Pennsylvania. proud because Baltimore and Pennsylvania were Instrumental in
 having 1t located. Each State appropri- ated 5000 for the restoration of the line.
 Yet. the Mason and Dixon line is known | as the boundary between North and South and from it comes "Dixie," cog | nomen for the South, which has Been inn moralized in song and story.
 The work of remarking or reconstruct ing the line was started as the result of an investigation by the Pennsylvania De- partment of Intefnal Affairs. There was no trouble about the location of the boundary. and 1t was simply to maintain interest in the historical line that Mary land lent cooperation in the work of re-
 marking. which began actively in April. | 1901. and has been pursued at irregular intervals ever since. The placing of the markers is in charge of Edward R. Mar tin. while Captain w. c. Hodgskins of the United States Coast and Geodetic Sur vey. Is in active charge of the field work General James w. Latta, Secretary of Internal Affairs is Commissioner on the part of Pennsylvania, and Dr. William B. Clark of Johns Hopkins University. | chief of the Maryland Geological Survey,
 on the part of MaryIands
 One of the erroneous impressions re- garding the Mason and Dixon line is that
 1t was marked altogether with stone Markers of stone were used wherever pos
 sible by Mason and Dixon, but at points
 almost inaccessible they were obliged to | resort to mounds of earth or rock and
 both can be seen yet intact after one
 hundred and forty years on high noun
 tain points to which in those days of in-
 ferior transportation the stones could not be carried.
 Imaginary Line.
 Another idea generally entertained is
 that the line is thirty feet wide. Recent ly farmer asked one of the engineers | If he could not have a section of the line | for private use, that 1t was used by neith- | CT State and he could realize from it by putting out crops. The line is simply
 imaginary and the fallacious impression that 1t is thirty feet comes from the fact | that in making the survey Mason and
 Dixon cut 8 gap thirty feet wide through
 the almost impenetrable wilderness,
 traces of which remain to this day. The | survey of this line was no trivial engi- | neering feat as some are wont to believe.
 It Is we'll authenticated fact that the
 work cost in the neighborhood of $3O0, GOO | and that at one time Mason and Dixon | had in their employ as many as 100 axe- | men. The work started in 1763 at the in- l stance of William Penn and Lord Balti-
 more and the surveyors were three years | in surveying from the northeast corner
 to the foot of Savage Mountain. In 1767
 the work was finished from the latter point to Virginia, now West Virginia.
 Engineers now at work on the line mar
 vel at the thoroughness of the work of
 Mason and Dixon. who, despite the lack
 of means of transportation and
 being harassed by the Indians,
 accomplished task which this
 day the survivors at some points find 1t | difficult to initiate. The country is yet | rough, engineers passing through 1t in
 making railroad surveys, stating that it | is the most difficult of access they ever encountered.
 Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were astronomers of celebrity in England. In | 1S49 a revision was made of the line by commissioners appointed by the States | of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.
 So accurate was the work of Mason and
 Dixon that the change involved by the correction amounted to less than two | acres, which were added to the area of Maryland.
 The original stone markers, many of which are yet intact, were transported from England. They are of light greyish-
 brown color, being peculiar admixture Of sand and limestone and are dishn- guishable by peculiar odor, not unlike sulphur. When a stone is broken this odor Is quite fresh. The stones which
 were planted east of Sideling Hill were
 landed at New Castle, Delaware, and
 transported across the country. Those
 for points west of Sidellng Hill were
 brought up the Poto mac on fiatboats. The l stones weigh in the neighborhood of 800 pounds and are 1-2 feet long by one foot square. It was no easy matter to
 transport them through the wilderness
 It has been necessary to substitute about | seventy-five new stones to replace those carried away or broken up. The new stones are all of white marble, 1-2 feet
 long and ten inches square. Every fifth l stone Is a crown stone. with the coat of
 arms of Penn on one side and the escut-
 cheon of Lord Baltimore on the other
 The other stones are marked with a P
 on one side and an M on the other. The
 stones on the entire une number POO and
 up to Sideling Hill 133 stones have been
 placed at intervals of a mile. West of
 Sideling IIill they are being placed at irregular intervals of from one-half a
 mile to one and one-half miles. This is
 necessary in the mountains as the stones
 are set in a straight line so that one
 can be seen from another. This Is done
 to help the local surveyor. They are
 thus given the basis for work and are
 enabled to run straight line. About sev-
 enty-five stones will be replaced west of
 Sideling Hill. MT. Martin has had many
 interesting experiences in retracing and
 recovering stones. He has observed that
 at least eight persons responsibl for the demolition of the stones have met death
 in tragic death-by suicide, hanging,
 murder and accident. The fourteen old
 stones planted west of Sideling Hill were
 recovered near Clearspring, Md, and
 hauled to the points where they have
 been set Some were in use in buildings
 as door steps, others were converted into
 porch steps and others were used as sills in carriage yards. One was taken up in
 the streets of Clearspring, where it was used as a curb. Two were taken out of
 the Park Head Church. along the Ma z1