How the States Got Their Shapes Too_ The People Behind the Borderlines - Mark Stein [18]
They next surveyed the Maryland-Pennsylvania border eastward to the Delaware River. But the Maryland-Pennsylvania border doesn’t extend to the Delaware River; it ends at Delaware’s circular border. Why, then, did Mason and Dixon go tromping through Delaware? They did so to locate Pennsylvania’s western border.
Line to Delaware River: basis for western border
Pennsylvania’s charter had fixed its western border at five degrees from its eastern border. But its eastern border was now entirely composed of the Delaware River, based on an agreement with New York. Since the Delaware River is not a straight line, what point would be used to measure five degrees westward? Based on an agreement with Virginia (whose borders at the time included West Virginia and parts of Ohio), the starting point was where the latitude used for the Pennsylvania-Maryland border met the Delaware River. (Confusing? It gets worse, which is why the states sought out Mason and Dixon.)
It was no picnic for these two eminent surveyors, plodding back and forth over a boundary spanning more than 300 miles, in good weather and bad, often far from shelter—but never far from observing American Indians. Precautions had been arranged, however, as noted in Mason and Dixon’s journal: “July 16, 1767—We were joined by fourteen Indians deputed by the Chiefs of the Six Nations to go with us on the line. With them came Mr. Hugh Crawford, interpreter.”
Coping with Indians was only one of the additional challenges. They also had to cope with boundary stipulations regarding Delaware’s circular northern border, which unavoidably resulted in a wedge of uncertain jurisdiction. (In 1921 the wedge was awarded to Delaware.) To the west, they fretted about colliding with the Potomac River, Maryland’s southern border, since it was not included in the boundary agreement with Pennsylvania regarding Maryland’s northern border. In this instance, they got lucky; their journal noted, “Capt. Shelby again went with us to the summit of the mountain, and showed us the northernmost bend of the river Potomac … from which we judge the line will pass about two miles to the north of the said river.” With the Indians, however, their luck ran out:
Oct. 9, 1767—The Chief of the Indians which joined us the 16th of July informed us that the … war path [east of the Monongahela River] was the extent of his commission from the Chiefs of the Six Nations … and that he would not proceed one step further.
Oct. 26, 1767—Continued the line to the river Monongahela.
Nov. 5, 1767—Mr. Hugh Crawford with the Indians … left us.
Nov. 21, 1767—Seven of our hands left us.
Nov. 29, 1767—Discharged most of our hands.
No man’s land (left): the Delaware Wedge; Close call (right): Pennsylvania border and the Potomac
Their work was not quite done, but they had done all they could without risking warfare with hostile tribes across the Monongahela. Mason and Dixon returned to England in 1768. They next became involved in studies of gravity—but not as Mason and Dixon. Mason was hired to perform experiments in Ireland; Dixon’s work took him to Norway.
Dixon returned to his hometown at the conclusion of this research. His family’s wealth enabled him to live comfortably, engaging, when he chose to do so, in local surveying projects. He passed away in 1779 at the age of forty-five.
Mason, on the other hand, remained active in scientific endeavors and in seeking sufficient income. Two years after his return to England, Mason’s financial needs multiplied when he remarried, as he and his second wife produced six children. Following the American Revolution, Mason brought his family to Philadelphia in hopes that he could earn more money, owing to his and Dixon’s boundary line being so widely known among American leaders. Upon arriving in September 1786, he contacted his now eighty-year-old associate from years gone by, Benjamin Franklin.