Drawing the line
Subtitle: How Mason and Dixon surveyed the most famous border in America
By: Edwin Danson.
Publisher: John Wiley
Published: 2001
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 232
Subjects: Mason, Charles, 1728-1786.; Dixon, Jeremiah.; Frontier and pioneer life -- Pennsylvania.; Frontier and pioneer life -- Maryland.; Surveying -- Pennsylvania -- History -- 18th century.; Surveying -- Maryland -- History -- 18th century.; Mason-Dixon Line -- History.; Pennsylvania -- Boundaries -- Maryland -- History.; Maryland -- Boundaries -- Pennsylvania -- History.
Description: "The Mason-Dixon line - surely the most famous surveyors' line ever drawn - represents one of the greatest and most difficult scientific achievements of its time. But behind this significant triumph is a thrilling story, one that has thus far eluded both historians and surveyors.

In this engrossing narrative, professional surveyor Edwin Danson takes us on a fascinating journey with Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two gifted and exuberant English surveyors, through the fields and forests of eighteenth-century America. Vividly describing life in the backwoods and the hardships and dangers of frontier surveying, Drawing the Line discloses for the first time in 250 years many hitherto unknown surveying methods, revealing how Mason and Dixon succeeded where the best American surveyors of the period failed. In accessible, ordinary language, Danson masterfully throws the first clear light on the surveying of the Mason-Dixon line.

Set in the social and historical context of pre-Revolutionary America, this book is a spellbinding account of one of the great and historic achievements of its time."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-221) and index.