The Oskaloosa herald., 1914-01-08
WASHINGTON MADE GOOD.

Government surveyors, who have
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 19 years old
ran out for Lord Thomas Fairfax the
| line between what was then to be
Augusta and Frederick counties, Viz
ginia, this being only part of 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
supposed to extend westward to the
Pacific ocean. Subsequently these
large tracts were further subdivided,
so that the"Fairfax line" as it is gen
orally known, runs now between Rock
ingham and Shenandoah counties,
with the original Augusta and Fred
erick 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 required
that the line should be a straight one
from the head spring of Hedgman riv-
er, one of the sources of the Kappa
hammock, to the head spring of the
Potomac.
Since it was required that the line
should be straight Ii was first nee
essary to get the approximate course
| by building large bonfires on the in
tervening high points! Then starting
from the top of the Massanutten
mountains, the line was run straight
away over intervening mountains and
rivers toward the northwest.
Away off 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 Garrett
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 Rocking
ham county line, passed through this
Fairfax stone, which gives the name
to a nearby 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,
and that from here it was possible to
see a distant peak in the north noun
tain range over the top of the inter
vening Massanutten mountain.
Washington, of course, used sim
pie little compass, and his line could
not be expected to check absolutely
with that obtained by the government
surveyors who have retracted his sur
vey, using high power transits and
all the the refined and accurate meth
DDS which modern instruments allow.
Nevertheless, the line was run so care
fully in the first place that but little
variation has been found in it.
The reason that this old Washing
ton survey line is being retracted is
because the federal government is
purchasing lands in this neighbor-
hood in connection with the new APP
palachian forests which are being ac-
quired at the headwaters of naVi-
gable streams. under the terms of
the Weeks law, designed to protect
these water sheds from the evils of
Ideforestation. The government re-
quires a clear title before the land
can be paid for. In making sure Of
| the titles it is necessary, in many
cases, to go back to original royal
grants, or to colonial records, and to
have recourse to re-surveys before
the facts of ownership can be indis-
lputably established.