Here's a little history about the M&D line.
The Mason-Dixon Line became the boundary representing the division between the Blue and the Gray armies during the Civil War. ?ÿBecause it is the east-west line separating Maryland and Pennsylvania, with a part extending south and east to divide Maryland and Delaware, it is unclear why it was given this place in history, for all three States fought on the Union side.
Its real place in history goes back much further. ?ÿIn the middle of the 17th century, the rich land of the peninsula between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays was claimed by both the Calvert family of Maryland and the Government of the Netherlands. ?ÿWhen the Dutch were compelled to leave, the William Penn continued ?ÿdispute. ?ÿThe charters of Penn and Lord Baltimore were open to interpretation because of the vagueness of the documents. ?ÿThis caused quarrels so bitter that the disagreement continued for decades.
After years of dispute, a compromise decision by England's Court of Chancery awarded Maryland most of the peninsula. ?ÿPennsylvania was to keep the northeastern part, which later became Delaware. ?ÿThe agreement was signed and the work of marking the boundaries was begun by local surveyors in 1760.
Although the entire episode lasted for more than a hundred years, Penn and Lord Baltimore were suddenly anxious to settle it. ?ÿWhen the work did not go quickly enough to suit them, they decided to hire Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to get on with it.
Mason was 35 years old and held the post of assistant astronomer at Greenwich Observatory in England. Dixon, an astronomer, mathematician, and surveyor, was 30. ?ÿThe two men reached Philadelphia in the middle of November 1763 and met with the commissioners of Maryland and Pennsylvania.
In checking the work already completed, they found it accurate, so in January 1764, they established their headquarters at the Harlan Farm. ?ÿWhen the weather improved in the spring, the surveyors went south from the Harlan Farm along a meridian. ?ÿDistance measurements were taken as they went along, by chain on level ground and by levels on slopes. ?ÿThey set a post in a field on the farm of Alexander Bryan and marked it "West." ?ÿIt marked the latitude 15 miles south of the south point of Philadelphia. That post was the reference point for the parallel of latitude separating Pennsylvania from Maryland.
The large survey party set heavy boundary markers at 5-mile intervals. ?ÿThese stones had the Penn coat of arms on one side and the Calvert coat of arms on the other. ?ÿSmaller stones, marked "P" on one side and "M" on the opposite side, were also set along the Line. ?ÿThe West Line, as Mason and Dixon called the parallel between Pennsylvania and Maryland, extended from Delaware to the summit of the Allegheny Mountains by the time that the winter of 1766-67 grew cold.
There was only Indian country west of the Alleghenies. ?ÿThus, the following spring, the surveyors waited until an escort could from the Indians of the Six Nations could be obtained.?ÿ This allowed them to safely continue their work. ?ÿAll that spring and summer they continued the survey. ?ÿBy the end of September, the West Line reached the Monongahela River.
Because the Shawnee and Delaware Indians held the land beyond the Monongahela, twenty-six of Mason and Dixon's men quit the day the surveyors crossed the river. ?ÿNonetheless, the surveyors went on until they had crossed a "war path" and reached the top of a great dividing ridge. ?ÿThe termination point was noted in Mason's diary on October 18, 1767: ?ÿ"See on top of very lofty ridge . . . at 233 miles 17 chains 48 links from the Post marked West in Mr. Bryan's field, we set up a Post marked ??W? on the West side and heaped around it earth and stone, "Mason and his quiet Quaker coworker Dixon handed the completed boundary map to the commissioners on January 29, 1768.
The survey project had lasted 4 years and was the largest surveying accomplishment in Colonial America. ?ÿThe Mason-Dixon Line may be one of the best-known boundaries in this country, even if it is for the wrong reason. ?ÿThe survey cost just $75,000 and was amazingly accurate. ?ÿAn elaborate resurvey just a few years ago showed a difference in latitude of only 2.3 seconds.
