MDDM Background

[Samuel Moyer]

Sorry if you get this more than once.  I sent it twice yesterday and haven't
seen it post yet (I took out some formatting and shortened for this
attempt.)


The Transit of Venus takes place in 1761 and the line work takes place
between November 15, 1763 and late 1767, Mason and Dixon leave America in
1768.  The Rev. Cherrycoke tells the story in one evening (I think)... or
from the time the kids come in from sledding until the very early hours of
morning (Someone please correct me if I am wrong).  Some parts of the story
get more of his attention than others... maybe it is the late hour and the
Rev. needs to get on with the story... but what happens during these short
chapters from 59 to 65 is that we advance 18 months including two full
working seasons (April to October).

I am not so interested in whether or not Pynchon (or Cherrycoke) get the
historical events right... but I find it interesting to get a glimpse of
what was happening.


By the Spring of 1766, the two surveyors were back at Captain Shelby's
to pick up their instrumanets, rehire their old crew and begin work.  They
were soon deep into the Allegheny Mountains... On June 14, 1766, Mason,
Dixon and their party had surveyed as far as they were allowed to go.  "At
present the Allegany Mountains is the boundary between the Natives and
the strangers,: Mason commented in his journal.

On June 18, 1766, Mason and Dixon reached the crest of Savage
Mountain, and athe end of their survey.  they made their way back
toward the "Post marked West in Mr. Bryan's field,"  they resurveyed
the line by astronomical calculations and set wooden posts in the
open Visto every half-mile.  By the end of September, they had
finished and were safely returned to their Brandywine headquarters.
But the demanding commissioners had two more assignments for
them.  One was to extend their line eastward to the Delaware River
and the other was to set thirty-five additional stones on the
Delmarva Peninsula, as well as sixty-five stones on the Maryland
Pennsylvania boundary heading west.

No sooner had M & D completed both tasks than the commissioners
issued a new, and more startling, order.  If the Indian's gave their
permission, Mason and Dixon were to run the western boundary line
beyond Savage Mountain into Indian Territory.

                   from: Judith St. George's _Mason and Dixon's Line of
Fire_ p 51-53.

And:

In late October 1965 they contacted Captain Evan Shelby, one of the most
fascinating characters of the colonial frontier, who had lived on the
boundary
lands between Pennsylvania and Maryland since he came to America
from Wales in 1733.  He was a justice of the peace and fur trader who had
fought with the British Army against the Indians just three years earlier.
He
was also a surveyor.  The two English scientists wanted Shelby to escort
them to the top of Cove Mountain so they could determine the course of the
serpentine Potomac River.  The exact course was crucial because if it were
to drift north of the line and then make a turn south, Maryland would
effectively be split into two parts by the colony of Virginia.    On their
first
trip to the summit, the air was too hazy to see far enough, but on the
second climb they were reassured, because they saw firsthand that the
northernmost bend of the Potomac was still inside Marlyand by about two
miles.  On October 27, Mason recorded: "From here we could see the
Allegheny Mountain for many miles and judge by its appearance to be about 50
miles distant from the direction of our line."  Mason and Dixon stored their
equipment at Captain Shelby's for the winter and started the long trip back
to the
Harlan Farm.

            from: William Ecenbarger's _Walkin' the Line_ pp 179-180.

Again, I don't expect the accounts here and the novel to match up (actually
we should eventually talk about the way Cherrycoke tells the story... maybe
that is what's next)... but the back ground is interesting.

The scene at the end of chapter 60 describes the Serpent mound in Ohio,
where Mason and Dixon could not have gone.  Some other mound is what they
visit in ch 61 (I think).

P. 614 (ch 62) they have reached savage mountain and turned back east...
this must have been June 15-18, 1766.

In Chapter 63 the action is moving East and widening the Visto and I will
pick up here in my next post... I will also continue with some more
background and some materials related when we get to Ch 65 later in the
week.

Sam