Evening star., 1908-01-29
.SOME BOUNDARY LINES
Reasons for Some of the Queer
DeIimitations.
THE MINNESOTA T0PKN0T
Curious Break in the Massachusetts,
Connecticut Division.
WEST vIRG1NIA'S PANHANDLE
Higher Education of Deaf and Dumb
women-only Law College for
Women in the World.
WEST v1RG1N1A's PANHANDLE
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS

BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald
Some time ago reader inquired apou'
the reasons for and the history Of certain
irregular boundaries between the states
and particularly concerning those OF the
Yellowstone Park, the ''topknot' or MIN
nesota. the ''jogs' in the line between
Massachusetts and Connecticut. south OF
Springfield. and in Pennsylvania at Erie
the panhandle of West Virginia and the
curve which forms the northern boundary
OF the state of Delaware. The dues'ioh
was asked how those irregular ties nap
pened and whether there were anv inter
estins stories connected with them.
As rule the divisions between the
states follow natural boundaries. such as
the Mississippi. Ohio. Savannah. Connecu-
cut and Red rivers; ranges of mountains
and watersheds or arbitrary lines drawn
bv surveyors for certain distances such
as those between Indiana and Ohio on one
side and Michigan on the other. IL you
will look at the map you VIII notice d
considerable difference between the north
eru line of Ohio and that of Indiana one
is little farther north than the other and
there is "A decided jog Were H1ilsdale
county comes down into Of 10 territory.
This is due to the arbitrary terms Oh tne
enabling act admitting those states INTO
the Union 1t was evidently intended to eA-
tend the line directly from Lake Erie TO
/ Lake Michigan, but by some error tne de
stription of the northern boundary OF ONO
was made different from that OF the
northern boundary of Indiana by several
miles.
The .topknot'' of Minnesota-a little jog
| that runs up into the Lake of the woods
/ is due TO an attempt to divide the waters
IL 1,l- 1t-in IN
between the United States and Ianada.
and thus we get one-half OF the waters OF
the Lake of the Woods.
| The jog in northwestern PennsyFania.
/ which gives that state access TO Lake
Erie. is due to the terms in which the
southern boundary of the state OF New
York is described by the commissioners,
| James Clinton Simon Dewitt and Andrew
Elliott in 1883. They were to run iine
| westward certain distance and then
northward to Lake Erie. That line did
not extend as far as was intended Ihen.
| when the eastern boundary OF ONO was
defined, that did not reach the western
boundary of New York
The West Virginia Panhandle.
The "panhandle' of West Virginia was
created in the same way. The southern
boundary of Pennsylvania is described In
the agreement between the commissioners
4 Of that state and Maryland and Virginia
..as commonly called Mason and Dixon $
line to be extended due west degrees
of longitude from the River Delaware Tor
the southern boundary. and meridian
} drawn from the western extremity there
| of to the northern limits OF the said state
| he the western boundary of Pennsylva-
. | MIA In 1854 the state of Virginia cedeo
all the land west Of the Ohio river to the
: United States, and that river was after
: ward made the boundary of the state o1
II ;rJ, 1aft hon n ho
territory of Virginia, which was after
ward divided into two states of that
name
The irregularty Of the division between
Virginia and West Virginia is due to an
attempt to preserve county lines as origi.
nally established.
The jog in the northern boundary OF
Connecticut. by which about twenty
square miles of the territory of that state
was given to Massachusetts, involves q
long story and a controversy that con-
tinued for many years. Indeed, this con-
troversy embraced the entire line between
Connecticut and Massachusetts. and Still
farther between Massachusetts and Rhode
Island, and it was not settled until 1850
when decree of the United States court
fixed a conventional line which was
afterward confirmed by the legislatures OIL
the three dsputing states.
Jog in Connecticut's Line.
!. With reference to the particular jog
south of Springfield, in 1713 commission
: ers from the province of Massachusetts
bay and the colony Of Massachusetts
, | settled a boundary line by description and
i not by survey. BY this decision certain
frontier towns were given to Massachu
. setts because their inhabitants had al
ways acted with the rest of that colony
: and desired to continue to do SO. Ir
5 1149. when surveying became more com
mon and it was discovered that the verba
boundaries left the towns OF Woodstock
i Suffield Enfield and Somers In the ter
ritory of Massachusetts. the Legislature
of Connecticut appealed to the crown
who decided in favor of Connecticut. II
1896; commissioners were appointed to re
wise the boundary Then compromst
was made by which the town of South
wick should be included in the state o
: Massa chusetts and the towns of Suffield
Woodstock Enfield, Somers. WestfelC
and Grandy should be included in th'
state of Connecticut. according to tn.
preference of their inha bitants. The re
port of the commissioners describes tht
dividing line between the two states very
minutely. and creeps along with 1t incl
by inch through many pages. like this:
. beginning at the northwest corner O.
SuffieId on the west bank Of the. Con
: necticut river in the center of a small
: valley running into said river. said pon
\ being between small butternut tre'
: standing on the south and small crooked
white oak standing on the north. abou
5 two feet distant from each other-an,
;. then running north eighty-two degrees
4 forty-five minutes west one chain to
stone monument erected by us there OIL
, the stage road from Springfield to Suf
u field and said course continued woul,
: pass two feet north of Smiths house
a thence the same course two chain
: to dry hemlock tree with stones abou
II on the west side of said river. near
! small fall and a rock on the east sid
q of said river. STOPPING towards 1t: theme
n the same course 215 chains to a larE
4 heap of stones between two hemlOcl
q trees: > thence in the same cours
I19 chains to a stone monument erecte
$ by us near Ebenezer Fletcher's house
= etc. etc
1t would be very difficult for any on
: TO trace that line by those landmark
today.
The Delaware Curve.
The northern boundary of Della ware
which is a perfect curve. involves al
even more interesting story, which re
quires many pages to tell. That stat
was originally settled by Swedes: in 165
il was surrendered to the Dutch: in 166
II was surrendered TO the English an,
was taken possession of by the Duke o