MDDM Ch. 70 November 5th

[Dave Monroe]

"With those who stay, the Astronomers, transiting from
Weightless Obs to earthly back-wrenching Toil the Obs
demand by way of Expression,set Posts ev'ry Mile,
these being large segments of Tree, roughly squar'd,
twelve by twelve inches, and five or sometimes six or
seven foot long.  First the Crew dig a deep Post-Hole,
put in the Post, fill back the Hole, tamping down the
Erath scientifickally, one shovel-ful at a time, then
bring more Stone and Earth to make a Cone about the
Post, leaving perhpas six inches of it visible.  That
is the Surveyors' estimate of the Mark's Longevity,--
tho' of course Angles of Repose vary,-- and withal,
Mason and Dixon will bicker, by now, over anything.
   "On November 5th, two things happen at once,-- the
Visto is completed, and the Indians depart,-- as if,
as long as a Tree remain'd, so might they.  At last
teh Axmen have clear'd the visto back to the Post
marking their last Station of the Year previous,--
east of which all lies clear, all the way back to
Delaware.  'There being one continued Visto,' Mason
writes in the Journal, 'opened in the true Parallel to
the Ridge we left off at on the 9th of October last.
   "'Mr. Hugh Crawford with the Indians and all Hands
(except 13 kept to Erect Marks in the Line etc.) Left
us in order to proceed Home.'" (M&D, Ch. 70, pp.
681-2)

"from Weightless Obs to earthly back-wrenching Toil,"
i.e., from theoria to praxis ...

Again from The Journal of Charles Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon, ed. A. Hughlett Mason (Philadelphia: American
Philosophical Society, 1969) ...

November

5

Continued the Line to the Post Standing at
199 Miles 63 Chains 68 Links which finished: There
being now one continued Visto opened in the true
Parallel
from the Intersection of the North Line from the
Tangent
Point with the Parallel to the Ridge we left off at on
the 9th of Ocrober last.
Mr. Hugh Crawford with the Indians and all
Hands (except 13 kept to Erect Marks in the
Line etc.) Left us in order to proceed Home. (p. 190)

And, again, from A. Hughlett Mason's "Introduction,"
Section III, "Mason and Dixon's Survey," pp. 9-21 ...

   "November, 1767.  The party continued to move
eastward and to measure the offests to the true
boundary from the 10-minute arcs of creat circle
[...].  Accodringly, there was now one continuous
'Visto' along the boundary, extending entirely from
the northeast corner of Maryland to the westernmost
extent of the survey at 233 miles 17 chains 48 links
from the Post marked West.  On the fifth Mr. Hugh
Crawford and the Indians and all helpers except
thirteen retained to erect markers in the line left
for their homes.  These temporary markers were huge
mounds of earth amd stones piled around the wooden
posts which had been placed at the mile points on the
boundary." (p. 20)

Markers still remain along the Line, apparently ...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/04/0410_020410_TVmasondixon.html

http://www.salisburypost.com/2001feb/022401moments.htm

http://www.geocities.com/arojann.geo/crownstones.html

http://digitalfilmmaker.net/Mason-Dixon/mason7.html

http://www.mdhs.org/library/fotofind/PP0037fa.html

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/1422/mas_dix.html

Okay, suddenly have to run again, but will be back ...

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