Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1913-11-27
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER ~, 1913.
Washington's Survey Gets
Government 0. K.

NtNCilllllCIlu SUI NCyoIc, wiz '''>
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 1851, according to tradition,
George Washington, then 10 years
old, ran out for Lord Thomas Fair
fax the line between what was then
to be Augusta and Frederick counties,
Virginia, this being only 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 We're subdividcd, so
that the Fairfax line" rs it is gen
orally known, runs now between
Rockingham and Shenandoah com-
ties, with the original Augusta and
Frederick counties to the south and
north respectively.
In the organic act for the forma-
ton of the two counties, or parish
es" as they We're then called, it was
required that the line should be a
straight one from the head spring of
Hedgman 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 necessary to
get the approximate course by build
ing large bonfres 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.
Away off across part of what is
now West Virginia there is large
rock known today as the Fairfax
Stone. 1t is the monument which
marks the southwest corner of Carrot
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 court house, coinciding
with the Shenandoah and Rocking
nham county line, passes through this
Fairfax Stone, which gives the name
nearby station, Fairfax, on the
I'm Maryland railroad. 1t has
Sumed that, in running this
gh peak northwest of Orange
\ was the starting point.
-. mat from here it was possible to
see distant peak in the North mount
ain range over the top of the inter
vening 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 Sc carefully
in the first place that but little varia
ton 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 Mass
anutten range, the Shenandoah-Rock-
ingham, or Fairfax, line can be read
lily followed by means of the bound
airy fences dating from earliest days,
and 10y the blocks of timber, alter
nately cleared away or left standing,
which come up from either county
and stop at the line, like squares in
checkerboard. Then if one turns
to the southeast the same demarka-
tons 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 Rock
ingham. 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. s. national museum
in the city named for its owner, is
presumed to be the same one used in