Query re M+D

[Richard W. Ahrens]

Note:  M+D Spoiler, Pages 296-555	
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	As a new member of the P-list, (I was able to watch quietly 
for six whole days) I wish to speak my first piece.  Would someone 
please give me a sanity check on the following:  

	In paragraph 1 page 341, TRP, through the voice of the 
Reverend Cherrycoke, says that Mason (and perhaps Dixon) are going 
to Lancaster Town, "thirty-five miles' Journey to the West."  I 
believe that Lancaster is located at approximately 40 degrees 
02 minutes North by 76 degrees 19 minutes West,  and that it lies 
some 7 statute miles to the Northeast of the Susquehanna River.

	I believe that Mason (and perhaps Dixon) started on this 
trip to Lancaster from John Harland's farm at Brandywine 
(paragraph 2 page 340), their last location, which is mentioned 
twice in the last paragraph 7 page 340 of chapter 33. The farm is 
located (paragraph 4 page 330) "thirty-one miles more or less due 
West of the southernmost point of Philadelphia."  This would place 
the farm at exactly (per paragraph 2 page 334: 39 degrees 
43 minutes 17.4 seconds North + exactly per paragraph 1 page 296: 
15 <statute> miles North)  39 degrees, 56 minutes, 18.98 seconds 
North by approximately 75 degrees 46 minutes West.  This location 
is some 41 statute miles to the Northeast of the Susquehanna River.

	By this reckoning both the startpoint and the endpoint of 
their journey are to the Northeast of the Susquehanna River.

	At the start of paragraph 4 page 341, "They . . . cross 
Susquehanna by Wright's Ferry, reaching Lancaster 10 January 1765."  
There is a Wrightsville today on the Southwest side of the 
Susquehanna River, at approximately 40 degrees 02 minutes North 
by 76 degrees 32 minutes West, or roughly 12 statute miles due West 
of Lancaster, which might (might, that is) qualify for the location 
of Wright's Ferry.

	To me, they would be travelling to "the West" paragraph 1 
page 341, from Harland's farm from a spot now shown as Northeast 
of the Susquehanna River to Lancaster (by perhaps a straight-line 
true course of 282 degrees if they ignored the road from 
Philadelphia to Lancaster) which is also now shown as Northeast 
of the Susquehanna River.  By present-day maps they would NEVER
NEED TO CROSS the Susquehanna River to get to Lancaster on any 
more or less direct route.

	Eh-h, what's going on here, foax?
 
Has the river changed its course to the Southwest by more than 7.75 
        miles since 1765, or
Was there perhaps a great Northern Loop to the River (since
	disappeared, perhaps during the great New Madrid 
        Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812. Don't laugh, it happened 
        to the Mississippi), or
Did he/they take an extremely circuitous route, and TRP not tell 
	us the full story, or
Is the Reverend Cherrycoke hiding some of the facts of the trip 
        from us, or
Has TRP misinterpreted parts of the story as told to him by
	Cherrycoke, or
Has there been a "Great Map & Chart Realignment" since 1765, 
	similiar to the missing Eleven Days of 1752, or
Did John Harland's farm quietly slide across the Susquanna 
	sometime in the last two centuries, (and did it take 
        Philadelphia with it?), or
Has one, or perhaps three or four, whole chapters of M+D been 
        edited out (by TRP's wife? and why? to save us 
        from what?), or
Has Lancaster been quietly and surreptitiously been shifted 
        more than 7.75 miles to the Northeast from its
	original location, or
Are the many different mapmakers of today all in collusion to
	make Pennsylvania a more logical state (after all, I 
        only checked locations in three maps), or
Has this episode been moved in M+D from a later location in
        the book after Mason and Dixon are West of the 
        Susquehanna River to its present location, or
Is the Reverend Cherrycoke deliberately falsifying (certain parts
	(of the story (perhaps to confuse (us?)?)?)?)?
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Calculations:
	15 <statute> miles   =   15 x 5280 feet   =   79,200 feet
	79,200 / 6080 feet/nm   =   13.026315 nautical miles
	13.026315 nautical miles   =   13 minutes plus 0.026315 minutes
	.026315 minutes   =   1.5789 seconds   =   (approx.) 1.58 seconds
	15 statute miles   =   13 minutes, 1.58 seconds

	39 degrees 43 minutes 17.4 seconds  +  13 minutes 1.58 seconds 
	=   39 degrees 56 minutes 18.98 seconds

For a sense of scale: 
        1 degree of latitude = 60 nautical miles (at U.S. latitudes)
        1 minute = 1/60 degree = 1 nautical mile = 6080 feet
        1 second = 1/60 nm = 6080/60 = 101.333+ feet = 101 feet 4 inches
        0.1 second = 1/10 second = 121.6 inches = 10 feet 1.6 inches
        0.01 second = 1/100 second = 1 foot 0.16 inches = 1.008+ feet
                
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