The Washington times., 1913-11-29
FIND WASHINGTON
WAS GOOD SURVEYOR
Lines Run BY First President
When Only Nineteen Are
Remarkably Accurate.

George Washington was a mighty
! good surveyor, according to the Gov
! ernment experts who have just COM
plete6 the big task of running over the
| Washington surveys of early Colonia:
Gays. Though Washington. then only
; nineteen years old. had none of the
highly refined modern instruments TO
| work with. but depended on the COM
| pass and chain. his surveys were eX-
ceedingly accurate.
About 175I. according TO tradition,
George Washington, then nineteen
years old. ran cut for Lord Thomas
Fairfax 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
tire. These two counties were sepa-
rated from what was then Orange coun-
ty. and the grant TO Lord Fairfax was
supposed TO extend westward 20 the
Pacific Ocean.
Subsequently these large tracts were
further subdivided. SO that the Fair
fax line" as il is generally known, runs
now between Rockingham and Shenan-
doah counties. with the original Au-
gusta 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, II was required
that the line should be a straight one
from the headspring of Hedgman
hammock, TO the head spring of the Po-
tomac.
Built Bonfres.'
Since it was required that tie line
should be straight, it was first neces-
sary to get the approximate course by
building large bonfires on the interven-
ing nigh points. Then, starting from
very top of the Massanutten mountains,
the line was run straight away over in
teSyening mountains and rivers toward
the northwest.
Away off across a part of what is now
West Virginia, there is large rock
known today as the Fairfax stone. II is
the monument which marks the south
west corner of Garret county, Nd, the
southeast corner Of Preston county, w.
Va. and prominent points in the bound
aries in two other West Virginia coun !
ties. y line from Orange court house, |
coinciding with the Shenandoah and
Rockingham county lines. passes |
through this Fairfax stone. which gives |
the name to a near by station, Fairfax, /
on the Western Maryland railroad.
1t has been assumed that, in running |
this line, high peak northwest of
Orange court house was the starting |
point, anG that from here it was pos
Sible to see distant peak in the North |
TCuntain range over the top of the in |
tervening Massanutten mountain.
Washington, of course, used simple |
compass, and his line could not be eX- |
peoted to check absolutely with that OBJ |
who have retraced his surrey, using
high-power transits and all the refined |
and accurate methods which modern in |
Strumenps allow.
Little Variation.
Nevertheless, the line was run so care
fully in the first place that but little |
variation has been found in it. Even |
without instruments it is possible to
distinguish the course of the line with |
surprising distinctness.' From the top |
of Middle mountain in the Massanutten J
range. the andoah-Rockinsham, or |
Fairfax line, can be readily folded !
by means of the boundary fences dat
ing from the earliest days, and by the
blocks of timber, alternately cleared |
away or left standing. which come up |
from either county and stop at the line, |
like squares in z checkerboard.
Then if one turns to the southeast |
the same demarkations are plain across !
the valley of the south fork of the |
Shenandoah. cutting straight through |
Of land formerly in Shenandoah county. |
belonging 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 Washing on compass now to be |
seen AT the United States National |
Museum in the city named for its owner,
is presumed to be the same one used in |
running this line more than $50 years
ago.
The Fairfax Stone stands at a per-
manent monument. In addition, there
are, throughout that section of the
Washington surveys. For example,
corner of a farm about one and one
half miles from Lost City, Hardy |
county, w. Va, was, according TO
persistent story of that section of the
marked by Washington--
Survey blaZes cut into trees, and since
grown over, have been cut away, and
a count of the annual LAYERS Of growth
over the old wounds shows them to have
been made at the time Washington was
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 gwen
rise TO a sort of superstition that Wash
ington, known to have been very tall |
was actually a giant. Other authorities
have said that Washington did much of |
his work on horseback. and made his
blazes with lOng-hand<d AK from the
saddle. II