The Washington herald., 1907-03-14

lesson, in geography, inquired OF her
mother. What makes the lines be-
tween the States so crooked? Why are
some States shaped so Oddly2' No Won
der that the mother had to get help to
explain. There are few grown-ups who
could answer these questions satisfac-
toriIy. Our forefathers used such crude
methods of defining many Of the State
divisions, that some boundary lines are
as hard to decipher as maze in kings
garden.
Take the old eastern boundary of New
York for an example. The line was de-
scribed as starting at "a rock in the
ancient road or wading place in Byram
River, following a direction that would
lead by a bunch Of hornbeam saplings"
and a tree which was either "a red oak or
a white oak" touching another tree on
the land occupied by Thomas Wilsey in
1914" and finally falling in with certain
farm fence. Land was so plentiful in
those old days that a few miles one way
or another did not make much difference.
The line separating Tennessee from GeOr-
gia, which was surveyed I'm 1919, was de-
fined quite as iucidly. This was said TO
begin at "a rock due south of the old
Indian town of Nickajack, passing due
east in such a manner as to leave old
D. Ross two miles and eighteen yards in
the state Of Tennessee
A tiny parcel Of land in southwest
Massachusetts was given to New York
in 1850 It was a small cove that was
practically inaccessible from the east.
and because Of this it became a most
desirable place for prizehghts, the Of
tenders being able to slip back into New
York easier than the officers could get
in from Massachusetts. So TO break up
this interesting game of hide-and-seek
between the Iaw-breakers and the law
enforcers, the bit of land was given to
the State that could best police il.
In the earliest surveys of the United
States, rivers and like natural boundaries
were pressed into service TO determine
the limits of the different territories or
grants, and much trouble has resulted
from the shifting habits of these kinds
Of boundaries Had not the commission
that fixed the division between the
United States and Mexico decided upon
certain channel of the Rio Grande,
where that river is used as the line. the
citizens IN that part of the world weuld
have a hard time deciding whether they
are Americans or Mexicans, because the
river changes its course so often.
The people of California and Nevada
may still be living IN one another's terri
tory for all they know, as the boundary
line was hard to establish and may vary
half a mile Just where the elbowlike
bend comes in the line is Lake Tahoe and
it is almost in the exact middle of that
lake that the principal measurement for
the angle of the turn had 10 be taken
While the boundary thus established has
been accepted, and is generally recognized
as being correct, there may be a dispute
over its exactness some day.
For many years the northwest boundary
line Of the United States was Just about
as easy TO locate as the famous Seven
Cities Of Cibola," for which the early ex-
plorers searched so futilely. The old
treaty states that the line should be due
west from the Lake of the Woods TO the
This might have been fairly
if the Mississippi had lived
up to the expectations OF the treaty
makers, but It continued to wander
through the State after its own independ-
ent fashion, fully two counties to the
southeast Of the lake. In a half century
or so the line was made more definite.
though the point finally chosen as the
northwestern point" Is now well under
the waters Of the lake.
Just how much territory she had in
her northeast corner. The old treaty
Of 1851 defined the boundary as follow
ing the st. Croix River to its source. "
thence north to the Highlands that d.
vided the waters Of the Atlantic from
those Of the St. Lawrence. As no one
knew which OF two rivers emptying fifty
miles apart was the St. Croix, or which
set Of highlands was meant, or whether
the Bay Of Fundy might be considered
an arm Of the Atlantic, carly Maine
geography was rather mixed. When
Lord AshbUrtOn and Daniel Webster
Strengthened the matter out ffty-nine
years later, they gave seven-twelfths Of
the disputed land TO the United States
and dve-twelfths TO England.
The most famous boundary line in the
United States is that dividing PennsyI- /
vania ana Maryland. Il was surveyed in
l'63-67 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon, and they are credited with run
ming the whole line with the exception
OF twenty-five miles 1t was called for
them Mason and Dixon's Line" and re- |
cei7ed its political prominence at the time
Of the great Missouri Compromise" in |
1870, when John Randolph. in a famous /
speech, referred 10 it as the boundary
Inc between the growing factions of the 1
North and South. Since then il has been
an integral part OF history. The boundary /
-lne between Massachusetts and Connecti- 1
CUT has never been accurately determined /
dispute,
Vermont has no claim on the Con
necticut River. because the old grant of
the colony of New York defined its /
boundary as reaching "to" the Connect !
cut and Vermont was carved from the /
eastern part of New York. Virginia is I'm |
the same fix where the Potomac is CON
,erned, the commission appointed to |
establish her boundary line fixing it on /
The southern bank Of the river, leaving /
Maryland's dominion 20 extend over aU /
The stream
In the great basin between the Rockies
md the Sierra Nevada lie the ghosts of
many dead lakes. Rivers still flow down
% the dry edges of these one-time great
and are licked up by evapora-
ion and the Chinook winds. OF all the
axes that once lay there only Great Salt
AXE, Lake Tahoe, and Deer Lake are
eft. The Southern Pacific rolls for 1Gl /
niles across the bed OF what was once
axe Lahontan, and passengers gazing
div from the windows may see the Ter