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Boston, Massachusetts is home to the first lighthouse in America.
The lighthouse was built in 1716 on Little Brewster Island.
It was destroyed by the British, but was reconstructed in 1784.
Boston Light still has an official keeper.
The "boundary dispute" that eventually led to the running of the Mason??Dixon line was an armed conflict known as Cresap's War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cresap%27s_War
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Tennessee and Georgia have a border dispute of their own.?ÿ The border was established by a survey done in 1818 to locate the border between the two states.?ÿ It was to have run the 35th parallel, but the surveyors allegedly miscalculated it and agreed upon a line that places the northwest corner of Georgia 1 mile and 28 poles due south of the south bank of the Tennessee River.?ÿ This has been an issue, particularly for the City of Atlanta, which would really love to get a drink from the Tennessee River.?ÿ But alas..., darn surveyors.
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Great educational material for all of us.?ÿ Let's see how many States, etc. we can get.?ÿ Would love some info from other countries.
@jerrys?ÿ It wasn't the surveyor per se.?ÿ It was the arithmetic done by the professor from the University of Georgia (grin), I do believe there may have been a little alcohol involved with the error.?ÿ If they had just paid Andrew Ellicott then he could have finished and all would have been well.?ÿ They'll never move the location of that corner, it's been 200 years now.
Andy
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@andy-bruner, I'm sure you are correct.?ÿ The corner established by the work is still in evidence at the site, last I read.?ÿ I attributed the "error" to the surveyors because several of the things I have read about it assumed that was the source of the problem.?ÿ I know Georgia does not care about the land particularly.?ÿ But that Tennessee River water must really be appealing.?ÿ And as you say, the corner is where it's been for over 200 years.
The engineer Elwood Mead moved from Colorado to Wyoming and became the state engineer in 1888. He was the driving force behind setting up Wyoming Water laws and regulations.?ÿ
Instead of a court based system Wyoming has an engineer based system,. The importance of this can't be understated.?ÿ
Because of this, the work of Mead, and successors in the office Wyoming has the closest to unassailable water rights in the county.
Mead didn't stop in Wyoming but also worked in other countries, Australia, Palestine, along with his involvement in the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams. Lake Mead is named after him.
With all of this history being discussed, I miss the contributions and writings of Jerry Penry. I know he suffered a horrible fire a few years ago and lost most everything. Does anyone here keep in touch with him or know if he is still okay?
@jerrys Have you ever seen the book "Georgia Land Surveying History and Law" by Farris Cadle??ÿ It is full of interesting trivia and data.?ÿ One of the few "history" books that I found interesting to read.
Andy
One of Ontario's most famous cases of adverse possession involved massacring an Irish immigrant family.
"Land title dispute
The property the Donnellys settled on originally belonged to the Canada Company which sold it to James Grace. Patrick Farrell had leased part of the lot occupied by the Donnellys. In 1856, owner John Grace brought an action for ejectment in the Court of Common Pleas of Huron County.[3] Squatting was a common North American frontier practice often supported by the courts in the establishment of common law property rights.[4] The judge, recognizing the improvements Donnelly had made to the land during his ten year occupancy, split the lot, awarding Donnelly the north 50 acres (200,000 m2) and Farrell the south.[4]
Despite the settlement, hard feelings remained. At a barn raising bee on Saturday, June 27, 1857, James Donnelly and Farrell fought. There are various accounts of what transpired, but in the end Farrell suffered a blow to the head from a handspike thrown by Donnelly, and died two days later. James Donnelly then went into hiding. (Farrell's young son was adopted by the Donnellys, and was brought up by them until adulthood.)[citation needed] Almost two years later, James turned himself in to Jim Hodgins, a sympathetic Justice of the Peace.[5] James was sentenced to be hanged on September 17, 1859. A petition for clemency started by his wife Johannah saw his sentence reduced to seven years in Kingston Penitentiary."
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"First massacre
Once the decision to attack the Donnellys was made, the Peace Society got together at roughly one o??clock in the morning to drink before they mounted the attack on this family; this is referred to as the "water of life."[32] The men used the liquor as a way to numb their senses as well as use it as a way to enhance their courage and their motivation.[32]
Once the men had had enough alcohol in their system, they began to walk in the direction of the Donnellys' home; there were also many witnesses that stated they could hear the group of men coming down Roman Line that night.[32] When the group of men finally arrived at the house, they surrounded the perimeter of the property and James Carroll took the first step inside the house, which was considered to be the first attack of the massacre; creating an element of surprise.[33]
Carroll walked into the room and slowly took the handcuffs out of his pocket (these were given to him by the Constable Hodgins) and handcuffed Tom Donnelly while he was still asleep.[34]
Once Tom Donnelly was handcuffed, Carroll did proclaim that "he was under arrest," and at that moment Tom sat up in bed as well as Ms. Donnelly and Bridget Donnelly due to all the commotion.[34] Carroll slowly moved from Tom's bedroom into Mr. Donnelly's bedroom, where he noticed that John Donnelly was nowhere to be found; their plan was to kill all the Donnellys in a single location.[34]
The commotion woke up Mr. Donnelly and he noticed that his son was handcuffed and proclaimed "what have you got against us now?" Carroll responded that they were being charged with another crime.[34] At that moment in time, Tom requested that Carroll read the warrant; since there was no warrant involved, Carroll let out a signal for the men to come storming into the house with their clubs.[33]
At this point, the men were beginning to beat Mr. Donnelly, Ms. Donnelly and Tom Donnelly; Bridget Donnelly was able to escape and race up the stairs in order to hide from her attackers.[35] Johnny was so terrified that he hid underneath of Mr. Donnelly's bed; since the men were not expecting him to be there that night, they did not know to look for him as a witness.[35]
The first one to fall to the ground was Mr. Donnelly; he was beaten rapidly and James Maher hit his skull repeatedly causing brain damage; Mrs. Donnelly on the other hand, fought hard against her attackers.[35] However, she was eventually beaten to the ground by Carroll and Tom Donnelly was fighting extremely hard to protect his family as well as himself; he broke free from the attacks and ran towards the front door, as he was running, Tom Ryder was waiting for him with a pitchfork and thrust the sharp points into Tom multiple times.[35]
Once Tom was limp on the ground, James Maher, Timothy Toohey and Patrick Quigley carried his body back into the house and placed it in the kitchen with his parents as well as Carroll removed his handcuffs from his wrist.[35]
"Hit this fellow on the head with that shovel and break his head open!" [35] It was said that either Jim Toohey or Patrick Quigley bashed Tom's head in three or four times.[35]
Once Mr. Donnelly, Ms. Donnelly and Tom Donnelly were all laying on the ground, the men realized that Bridget Donnelly was nowhere to be found.[36] A group of men went upstairs and found Bridget hiding and they began to beat her to the point where they were able to bring her limp body down the stairs to where the rest of her family was located.[36] To increase the amount of blood that was shed in a single household, one of the men bashed in the dog's head with a shovel because it would not stop barking.[36]
After the group realized that they were missing John Donnelly, they decided to create another plan for that night to rid their community of the Donnellys; they lit the house on fire with the bodies still inside and went hunting for John.[37]"
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"The Second Massacre
At roughly two in the morning, the Peace Society arrived at Whalen Corners; they surrounded the house, in a similar way as they did to the Donnelly's house.[39] However, the difference was the men were not as relaxed as they were in the beginning and they decided to try to get Will Donnelly to come out of the house, instead of storming into the house; they beat his prized stallion in order to lure him out of house from his dying horse's screams.[40] The problem was that the stables were far from the home and no one inside was able to hear what was going on outside, Jim Ryder called for "Will!" while carrying a shotgun to the side door of the house.[40] Will Donnelly woke up from the calling for his name, however it was John that opened the door to Will's house and was greeted by gun shots to the chest and groin; thirty holes were placed in his chest that pierced his lung, broke his collarbone and several ribs.[40] John dropped to the ground; McLaughlin and Ryder walked up to the body and placed seven more shots into John as a form of punishment for his action against the community.[40] Norah Donnelly (Will Donnelly's wife) heard the commotion as well as saw John's body on the ground, she tried to pull his body to safety but it was too heavy to move.[40] Will Donnelly hid in the bedroom and was able to peer through a window in order to get a glimpse of the individuals who were attacking the house; John Kennedy and Carroll were only a few feet away from the bed where he was hiding with his wife.[40] He could also place the faces of Big Mike Heenan, William Carroll and Patrick Ryder; the others faces were blurred by darkness.[40] Since Norah could not pull John to safety, Hogan got down on his knees and snuck out to where John was located and pulled him into the bedroom, which left a bloody trail behind him (John Donnelly died five minutes after).[40] The men of the Peace Society were so worn out from their previous attacks that they decided to just survey the perimeter until someone showed their face inside; the members of the household hid in the house for almost three hours before the group decided to leave the property.[41]
"There's been enough bloodshed tonight boys. Let's go home."[41]
These words spoken by Jim Feeheley ended the massacre, which would have continued to Big Jim Keefe's house.[41]
There were two trials in London, Ontario, at the courthouse on Ridout Street."
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There were no convictions in the murder trials.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Donnellys
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These events would then lend the name to an NBC TV show where Captain Janeway was a tough ol' cuss:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Donnellys
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In 1875, hockey games in Canada were moved inside in an attempt to keep the bloodshed of everyday life contained to a single building.
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There are many oddities regarding Ohio but I'll just keep it to one. The State of Ohio does not include any of the Ohio River. The southern boundary is the north bank of the Ohio River but the State of Ohio will be paying a majority (at least they were years ago when I had knowledge of the deal) of the cost of the bridge carrying IRs 71&75 across said river. We are doing that to get the people from the state up north and Canucks through our state and on to Florida quickly. Ohio wants to put a toll on the bridge but Kentucky has a state law prohibiting any toll on a bridge to Ohio.
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This has been dragging on since 2000 and probably before. The feds couldn't find any money for the project but they could for a bridge to no where in Alaska?!?!? Apparently our Senators, Ohio and Kentucky, aren't smart enough to hold up any important or popular bills until they get a few bucks for one of the busiest truck routes.
Probably not a well-known fact that the Cincinnati airport is actually in Hebron, Ky. ?ÿ
The Crow Indian Reservation east boundary in Montana is defined by the 107deg of Longitude. As mapping became available based on NAD27 the 107th line of longitude did not line up with the monumented east boundary. The east boundary did not hold a true bearing and was west of the NAD27 line of longitude. The Crow Tribe argued for years to have the boundary shifted east to align with the 107th. Finally the US Congress passed a law to do that. The BLM produced maps for the new alignment but did not monument the controversial line. I know of only one survey of the line but the question has been which 107th line, NAD 27, NAD 83 (86), NAD 83 (93),,,,,,,,,does the line shift with each new realization, how far will the new 2022 system "move" it.?ÿ
I've seen no study for where the Washington Meridian may have set the east boundary, but like the 4 corners that could answer some questions.?ÿ
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