The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-12-19
SURVEYS MADE BY GEO. WASHINGTON
 GETS GOVT OK.
Lines Run by the Father of this Coun- try in His Days of Chain and Compass Work Have Been
 Found Good.

Found Good.
 Government surveyors, who have l just been checking up some of the lines reputed to have been run by George Washington in his days of chain and compass work, have found them good.
 About 1751, according to tradition, George Washington, then 19 years old, ran out for Lord Thomas Fair fax the line between what was then to be Augusta and Frederick coun- ties, Virginia, this being only a part of a great deal of surveying which he is said to have been engaged upon at that time. These two counties were separated from what was then Orange county, and the grant to Lord Fair fax was supposed to extend westward to the Pacific ocean. Subsequently these large tracts were further sub divided, so that the Fairfax line," as it is generally knwn, runs now between Rockingham andShenandoah counties, with the original Augusta and Frederick counties to the south and north respectively.
 In the organic act for the formation of the two counties, or parishes" as they were then called, it was re- quired that the line should be straight one from the head spring of EHedgman river, one of the sources of the Rappahannock, to the head spring of the Potomac.
 Since it was required that the line should be straight it was first neces- sary to get the approximate course by building bonfires on the intervening high points. Then starting from the top of the Massanutten mountains, the line was run straight away over intervening mountains and rivers to- ward the northwest.
 The Fairfax Stone.
 Away off across a part of what is now West Virginia there is a lrage rock known today as the Fairfax Stone. It is the monument which marks the southwest corner of Gar ret county, Md, the southeast corner of Preston county, w. Va, and prom inent points in the boundaries in two other West Virginia counties. A line from Orange courthouse, coincid ing with the Shenandoah and Rocking Fairfax Stone, which gives the name to nearby station, Fairfax, on the Western Maryland railroad. It has been assumed, that in running this line, high peak northwest of Orange court house was the starting point, and that from there it was possible to see a distant peak in the North mountain range over the top of the intervening Massanutten mountain. Washington, of course, used sim pie compass, and his line could not be expected to check absolutely with that obtained by the government sur veyOrS who have retraced his survey, using high-power transits and all the refined and accurate methods which modern instruments allow. Never theless, the line was run so carefully in the first place that but little varia- tion has been found in it. Even with out instruments it is possible to dis tinguish the course of the line with surprising distinctness. From the top of Middle Mountain in the Massa- nutten range, the Shenandoah-Rock- ingham, or Fairfax, line can be read fly followed by means of the bound ary fences dating from earliest days. and by the blocks of timber, al+erna- tely cleared away or left standing, which come up from either county and stop at the line, like squares in a checkerboard. Then if one turns to the southeast the same demarka- tions are plain across the valley Of the south fork of the Shenandoah, cutting straight through the present Page county, which is made Of land formerly in Shenandoah county, be- longing to the Fairfax grant, and partly from land formerly in Rocking ham, Thus, as far as the eye can see in either direction, this old line shows plainly.
 The Washington compass, now to be seen at the U. $. national muse um in the city named for it's owner. is presumed to be the same one used in running this line more than 160 years ago.
 Wshneton's Survey Marks.
 T1I~ TH,s rfo de manent monument. In addition, there are, throughout that section of the country other records of these Wash ington surveys. For example, a large white oak stands at the corner of a farm about 1 1-2 miles from Lost City, W. Va, according to a perist- ent story of that section of the coun- try, marked by Washington.
 Survey blazes cut into trees, and since grown over, have been cut away, and a count of the annual lay CTS of growth over the old wounds shows them to have been made at the time Washington was surveying. One strange thing about these blazes is that they are several feet higher than those put on trees by woodsmen of today. This fact has given rise to sort of superstition that Washington, known to have been very tall, was ac- tually a giant. Other authorities have said that Washington did much of his work on horseback, and made his blazes with a long handled aX from the saddle.
 The town of Whitepost, Clark coun- ty, Va, takes it's name from post presumed to have been set by Wash ington as one of his survey marks. The post, formerly exposed, is now covered by a protecting case which I,xN fr.nT1