MDDM: some background (part 1)

[Samuel Moyer]

Sorry if you get this twice...  I sent it much earlier and haven't seen it post yet.


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.

One reason for this was the short season in 1766.

        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.



        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