Two centuries ago, surveyors from Georgia and Tennessee marched through the region's mountains and hollows to mark the official border between the two states. They were supposed to follow the 35th parallel, according to an agreement approved in 1802 by Congress.
Instead, they wandered about a mile south, marking a border that puts the Georgia state line here, just a minute's stroll from the edge of the broad Tennessee River.
That has led to years of water wars between Georgia and Tennessee, as the Peach state's population has exploded, outstripping its water supply—all while the Tennessee River has flowed achingly close.
Again?!?!?
or, better yet....
Oh, has it been four or five years already?!? My, how time flies.
Stephen
Georgia Should Have Paid It's First Surveyor
Then Mr. Ellicott might have showed them where the monuments were properly put.
Later on when they continued the line West they were too cheap to rent a proper instrument.
Georgia short changed itself.
Paul in PA
A little over two hundred years ago Virginia and North Carolina sent out some survey groups to establish the 36-30 parallel and they missed it by more than a mile in some locations. It is now the border between Kentucky and Tennessee. I was re-reading the book Four Steps West about that very venture. The border isn't contested (much) but North Carolina has a history of missing the mark a bit.
Seems like the line on the ground is the only accurate map of the boundary, right? Did the description refer to a map, or did they survey it after the description was written?
Gosh, how was it surveyed on the ground?
If that is overturned one of the next victims will be Texas which will lose about 1300 square miles to New Mexico. We know where it might start but where will it end?
Of course we will need to go back in time and reset some principle meridians and baselines.
Dispute? What dispute would that be? Our guys found the marker left by the original surveyor. Don't the markers define the line rather than math from an old piece of paper?
Larry P
> A little over two hundred years ago Virginia and North Carolina sent out some survey groups to establish the 36-30 parallel and they missed it by more than a mile in some locations. It is now the border between Kentucky and Tennessee. I was re-reading the book Four Steps West about that very venture. The border isn't contested (much) but North Carolina has a history of missing the mark a bit.
No offense Mr. Bushelman but could you use the technology of the time and do as well? Seems to me the work was very well executed for the time and conditions.
Larry P
Larry P ? Problem With The Technology Used ?
Andrew Ellicott came to Georgia to begin the Georgia North Carolina line. Ellicot brought the best technology for that purpose. Tools he learned to use under Mason & Dixon on the PA/MD line and used himself on the PA/NY and the GA/FL line, non of which cause major problems.
It is my understanding that Georgia refused to pay him and Ellicott went home, allegedly throwing his survey notes into the Atlantic on the way back. It is also my understanding was that Georgia's complaint was that Ellicott did not properly begin. Ellicott began by first completing the NC/SC line to the Chattooga River them continuing West on the 35th parallel. I believe Ellicott got all the way to the NC/TN line because it has a similarity to the last leg of the NC/SC line, a straight leg rather than ridge top to ridge top. I also believe there are unrecovered Ellicott mounuments out there.
Georgia later attempted to set the end point of this line without actually continuing it. They did not get a highly qualified surveyor and failed to get anything like the current technology in equipment using instead a ship's sextant. The Georgia line was described as going along the 35th parallel to the Tennessee River and had they at least done that even at the wrong latitude they would not have the current water problem. Because of the call to the River, the monument that was set should have been considered a closing monument, to the North or to the West, either way as you read the initial description. When the Georgia line was eventually run East they had to jog it North to get to the Ellicott line.
So Georgia did not use the available technology and failed to match the quality of earlier work.
Whether or not it would change the Georgia line, I believe someone should complete Ellicott's work, with Ellicott's tools from where he left off. And the State of Georgia should compensate Ellicott's heirs.
Paul in PA
Larry P
[sarcasm]What has that got to do with politics?[/sarcasm]
We all know that the line is "supposed to be" the 35th parallel. But what was laid out 200 years ago certainly should have some (a lot?) weight. Being from Georgia I would love to have access to the Tennessee River but I can't see overturning 200 years of "accepted" boundary (even if Georgia never officially accepted it). Getting back to what Paul said. That's what you get when you let a math professor from the University of Georgia do your ciphering.
Andy
There is no better answer to have.
To find the original monument is an undeniable truth.
Going against that grain would evolve surveying into a button pushing paradise.
0.02
