The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-12-01
Mason and Dixon's Line.

The King of England owed Ad-
miral Penn $4,000, and William
Penn, on the death of his father, in
herited the claim. At PENIS re-
quest King Charles granted him, in
; payment of his clam, a tract of 49,
900 square miles in America. In
the petition to the King, dated June
| 1850, Penn asked for the territory
west of the Delaware river and from
the northern boundary of Maryland
to the north "as far as plantable. y
1t was the largest grant ever made
to one man in America.
The boundary Of the colony, as
given in the Charter, became the
subject of the most serious dispute
and the matter was not fully settled
for a hundred years.
| The first survey to establish the
boundary and settle the dispute was
made by Charles Mason and Jere-
miah Dixon, two English surveyors,
who were brought to this country
by the heirs Of both parties for that
purpose. They arrived in America
on November Is, 1863, and began
that year the survey, completing it
in 1867.
Lord Baltimore had claimed that
the fortieth degree fell north of
Philadelphia, whereas the King in
granting it supposed it would fall
At the head Of the Delaware Bay.
Penn insisted that the line be fixed
where it was supposed to be.
The charter says that the province
granted to Penn was to extend five
degrees westward from the Della
ware river. and 1.-The said lands to
be bounded on the north by the be-
ginning Of the third and fourth de-
gree of Northern latitude and on the
south by a circle drawn at twelve
miles distance from New Castle
northward and westward unto the
beginning of the fortieth degree Of
northern latitude.
Just what the beginning of the
third and fourth and the beginning
of the fortieth, degree meant. was
not clear. Penn, finding that the
fortieth degree fell too far north to
give him a harbor on the Chesa-
peake, contented that the begin
ming Of the fortieth degree did not
mean the fortieth degree, and he
won in part; but 1t cost him dearly
for although the charter set the
boundary at the beginning of the
forty-third degree, which would
have thrown it north of Buffalo, it
was finally fixed at the forty-second
degree.
In 1882, the heirs OF Penn and
Baltimore signed an agreement that
the line between Pennsylvania and
Maryland be run due west from the
tangent of the western boundary Of
Delaware with the arc twelve miles
from New Castle. Mason and Dixon
surveyed it west for 244 miles, and
at the intervals of a mile small cut
stones were set in the ground; each
stone had q large P cut on the north
side, and B on the south side. Every
five miles was placed a larger stone
bearing the Pennsylvania coat of
arms on one side and that of Lord
Baltimore on the other. These
stones were cut in England and af-
forwards brought to the colonies.
A few of these stones still stand,
but time has crumbled many of
them; others have been carried away
by pieces by relic hunters, and a
few are doing service as steps be-
fore the doors Of farmhouscs along
the route. The first revision Of the
survey was made in 1849 when 1t
was found the original survey was
substantially correct, and within a
few years the route has been gone
over and many of the former his
toric monuments we're recovered and
put in their proper places.