Crossing the Sus

[RICHARD ROMEO]

RAW wrote:  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' and ....By present-day maps they would NEVER
NEED TO CROSS the Susquehanna River to get to Lancaster on any 
more or less direct route.
----------------------
According to that _American Heritage Article_, M&D in September 1764 
stored their instruments for the winter  to await more favorable weather 
after drawing the tangent line to New Castle "12 mile" arc.  On April 4, 
1765, M&D returned to the Bryan plantation, 15 miles south of latitude of 
Philadelphia.  There is no mention of where or in what direction they 
went. Again, according to the article, these guys were meticulous--after 
the first 25 miles the party retraced their steps and checked their work 
(sometime in early 1765 apparently). By June 1765, they were again moving 
westward, crossing the Susquehanna at Peach Bottom, PA (can't find this 
on modern PA maps), and continuing to the summit of the Blue Ridge 
mountains in late Oct.  Here they suspended operations once more, left 
their equipment and spent the next few weeks checking their distance 
measurements as they returned eastward.  
  Presumably, M&D were returning  west b/w the winter of 1764-65.

Richard Romeo
Coordinator of Cooperating Collections
The Foundation Center-NYC
212-807-2417
rromeo at fdncenter.org