The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-12-18
WASHlNGTON'S SURVEY GETS
GOVERNMENT o. X.

~. ~
Government surveyors, who have
| lust 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 10 tradition.
George Washington, then l9 years old,
ran out for Lord Thomas Fairfax the
! line between what was then to be
Augusta and Frederick counties, Vir.
ginia, 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 Fairfax was sup
posed to extend westward TO the Pa.
cifc ocean. Subsequently these large
tracts were further subdiyided, so that
| thte Fairfax line" as it is generally
MO" u. AA44S ACN AsoShIuS-
ham and Shenandoah counties, with
the original Augusta and Frederick
counties to the south and north re-
spectively.
In the organic act for the formation
OF the two counties, or parishes" as
they were 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 Rap
pahannock, 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 large bonfires on the inter-
vening high points. The starting from
the top of the M~assanutten mountains,
the line was run straight away over
intervening mountains and rivers to-
ward the northwest.
The Fairfax Stone
Away of across a part Of what is
now West Virginia there is a large
rock known today as the Fairfax
Stone. 1t is the monument which
marks the southwest corner of Gar
ret county, Md, the southeast corner
OF Preston county, w. Va, and promi-
nent points in the boundaries in two
other West Virginia counties. A line
from Orange court house, coinciding
with the Shenandoah and Rockingham
county line passes through this Fair
fax Stone, which gives the name to a
nearby station, Fairfax, on the West
ern Maryland railroad. 1t has been as
sumed that, in running this line, a
high peak northwest of Orange court
house was the starting point, and that
from here 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 a
simple compass, and his line could
not be expected to check absolutely
with that obtained by the government
surveyors who have retraced his sur
vey, using h~igh-power transits and all
the refined and accurate methods
which modern instruments allow.
Nevertheless, the line was u 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
distinctness. From the top
of Middle Mountain in the Massanut-
ten range, the Misunderstanding
ham, OF Fairfax, line a be readily
followed by means of the boundary
fences dating from 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 a checker
board. Then if one turns to the south
east the same demarkations 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
county, belonging to the
Fairfax grant, and partly from land
formerly in Rockingham. Thus, as
far as the eye can see in either direc.
ton, this old line shows plainly.
The Washington compass, 10 to be
seen at the u. 8. national in
the city named for its owner, is pre-
sumed to be the same one used in run
ming this line more than 100 years ago.
W~ashinston's Survey Marks
TIE Fairfax Stone stands as a per-
manent monument. In addition, there
are, throughout that section Of the
country. various other records Of these