Drawing the Line E-Book

Edwin Danson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 510

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The second edition of Drawing the Line: How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Famous Border in America updates Edwin Danson’s definitive history of the creation of the Mason - Dixon Line to reflect new research and archival documents that have come to light in recent years.

• Features numerous updates and revisions reflecting new information that has come to light on surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon
• Reveals the true origin of the survey’s starting point and the actual location of the surveyors’ observatory in Embreeville
• Offers expanded information on Mason and Dixon’s transit of Venus adventures, which would be an important influence on their future work, and on Mason’s final years pursuing a share of the fabulous Longitude prize, and his death in Philadelphia
• Includes a new, more comprehensive appendix describing the surveying methods utilized to establish the Mason-Dixon Line

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

List of Figures

Acknowledgments for the Revised Edition

Introduction to the Revised Edition

1 In the Reign of George the Third

2 The Fortieth Degree

3 Kings and Queens

4 Entirely at a Stand

5 Curious Knowing People

6 The Transit of Venus

7 Mr. Bird’s Contrivances

8 Persons Intirely Accomplished

9 The Southernmost Point of the City

10 15 Statute Miles, Horizontal

11 The Tail of Ursae Minoris

12 Fine Sport for the Boys

13 From the Post mark’d West

14 The Pencil of Time

15 King of the Tuscarawa

16 From Hence; to the Summit

17 At a Council of the Royal Society

18 Vibration of the Pendulum

19 Not One Step Further

20 A Degree of Latitude

21 The Last Transit

22 A Very Helpless Condition

23 Finishing the Job

Appendix

Astronomy

Longitude, Latitude, and the Shape of Earth

Surveying Methods

Degrees of Latitude: A Short History

The Mystery of the Mason–Dixon Mile

Bibliography

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

bapp

Figure 32 The celestial sphere showing right ascension and declination.

Figure 33 Sidereal time vs. solar time.

Figure 34 Latitude.

Figure 35 The lines run by the commissioners’ surveyors in 1761–1763.

Figure 36 Mason and Dixon’s solution to the tangent problem.

Figure 37 Observing equal altitudes.

Figure 38 10-minute arc of the great circle.

Figure 39 Adjusting the 10-minute (9-mile) segment of the West Line.

Figure 40 Running the sections from the Susquehanna.

Figure 41 Starting point for the 1766 season.

Chapter 01

Figure 1 Map of the lines surveyed by Mason and Dixon, 1763–1768.

Chapter 04

Figure 2 Fenwick Island monument.

Figure 3 Middle Point of the trans-peninsular line.

Figure 4 Original Tangent Stone standing next to stone set in 1849 by Lieut. Colonel James D. Graham.

Chapter 05

Figure 5 The Strand and Fleet Street, ca. 1760.

Figure 6 Crane Court, Fleet Street; home of the Royal Society, 1710–1780.

Figure 7 Benjamin Franklin’s house at 36 Craven Street, London.

Figure 8 Nevil Maskelyne (1732–1811); engraving by E. Scriven, ca. 1800. National Museum of American History,

Figure 9 Weir Farm, Gloucestershire, birthplace of Charles Mason.

Figure 10 The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, ca. 1800, from an engraving by Thomas Shepherd.

Chapter 06

Figure 11 Martin Saville’s model of Mason and Dixon’s observatory in Cape Town.

Chapter 07

Figure 12 John Bird (1709–1776). National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Figure 13 John Bird’s transit and equal altitude instrument, restored by master craftsman Jeffrey Lock of Colonial Instruments.

Chapter 09

Figure 14 Location of the Plumsted–Huddle house and observatory.

Figure 15 Stargazers Farm – John Harlan’s house. .

Chapter 10

Figure 16 The author at the Stargazer’s Stone.

Figure 17 Surveyor’s Gunter’s chain.

Figure 18 Fifteen miles south.

Figure 19 Site of the Post mark’d West.

Chapter 13

Figure 20 Setting out the North Line from the Tangent Point (exaggerated for clarity).

Chapter 15

Figure 21 Mason’s horseback journey.

Chapter 17

Figure 22 Middle Point marker stones. .

Chapter 18

Figure 23 John Shelton’s regulator.

Chapter 19

Figure 24 Brown’s Hill. Stone set in 1883 by Colonel C. H. Sinclair of the US Coast and Geodetic Survey marking the limit of Mason and Dixon’s survey.

Figure 25 Mason–Dixon Line stone monuments.

Left

: a five-mile crown stone.

Figure 26 On the Mason–Dixon Line. The author with professional surveyor Todd Babcock of the Mason–Dixon Line Preservation Partnership, 2002.

Chapter 21

Figure 27 The transit of Venus.

Above

: View of the transit and eclipse as it appeared through the telescope.

Below

: Schematic of the celestial mechanics.

Chapter 22

Figure 28 Schiehallion from the west.

Figure 29 Celebrating Charles Mason: a Mason–Dixon Line milestone and memorial plaque in Christchurch Burial Ground, Philadelphia.

Chapter 23

Figure 30 Burial ground of old Friends Meeting House, Staindrop.

Figure 31 Tower of Independence Hall, Philadelphia. The south-facing window is the one directly beneath the clock.

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Drawing the Line

How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Famous Border in America

Revised Edition

Edwin Danson

This revised edition first published 2017© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Edition History: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (1e, 2001)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Danson, Edwin, 1948– author.Title: Drawing the line : how Mason and Dixon surveyed the most famous border in America / Edwin Danson.Other titles: How Mason and Dixon surveyed the most famous border in AmericaDescription: Revised edition. | Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2016002849 (print) | LCCN 2016002908 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119141877 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119141808 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781119141815 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119141822 (epub)Subjects: LCSH: Mason-Dixon Line–History. | Pennsylvania–Boundaries–Maryland–History. | Maryland–Boundaries–Pennsylvania–History. | Frontier and pioneer life–Pennsylvania. | Frontier and pioneer life–Maryland. | Mason, Charles, 1728–1786. | Dixon, Jeremiah. | Surveying–Pennsylvania–History–18th century. | Surveying–Maryland–History–18th century.Classification: LCC F157.B7 D36 2016 (print) | LCC F157.B7 (ebook) | DDC 974.8/802–dc23LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016002849

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Item ID MS174.1051

For Linda

List of Figures

Figure 1

Map of the lines surveyed by Mason and Dixon, 1763–1768

Figure 2

Fenwick Island monument. Photo courtesy Allen C. Browne

Figure 3

Middle Point of the trans-peninsular line. Photo courtesy Allen C. Browne

Figure 4

Original Tangent Stone standing next to stone set in 1849 by Lieut. Colonel James D. Graham. Photo courtesy Allen C. Browne

Figure 5

The Strand and Fleet Street, ca. 1760

Figure 6