Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Re: depa arc & wedge<br/>
Date: Sep 28, 2000 @ 05:27<br/>
Author: michael donner (michael donner &lt;m@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-115945619">nice catch  bill<br/>
<br/>
the lady is essentially correct<br/>
tho slightly fantastical around the edges<br/>
<br/>
what she means by the state house in new castle is actually the former new<br/>
castle county court house<br/>
whose belfry vertex is the center point at least of the eastern half of the<br/>
surviving depa arc<br/>
but the western half of this arc is actually centered about a mile<br/>
northwest of the court house<br/>
<br/>
accordingly this so called arc is actually 2 arc segments in one<br/>
as previously mentioned<br/>
  or what is called a compound curve<br/>
while only very much seeming to be a single simple curve<br/>
<br/>
the hard data are<br/>
western half of depa arc<br/>
  centered roughly a mile nw of court house belfry<br/>
    length 57540 ft<br/>
    radius 61142 ft<br/>
eastern half of depa arc<br/>
  centered on court house belfry<br/>
    length 61643 ft<br/>
    radius 67637 ft<br/>
<br/>
the tangent point of the compound curve is an interstate trisubdivisional<br/>
point with the pennsylvania townships of kennett & pennsburg just west of<br/>
milepost 11<br/>
as shown in a large scan topo at<br/>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=39.8494&lon=-75.6178&s=25&size=l">http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=39.8494&lon=-75.6178&s=25&size=l</a><br/>
<br/>
it is a bit disturbing to see no monument indicated by usgs upon that point<br/>
  as is fairly standard at boundary turn & tangent & junction points<br/>
but i still trust these data i have cribbed from civil engineering magazine<br/>
while i do look forward to visiting the point & checking it for myself<br/>
<br/>
another reason i have deigned to slow you down with this large swatch of<br/>
topo is to thank arif & in some small way reciprocate for his very<br/>
illuminating & entertaining tin bigha responses<br/>
with news of an unexpected exclave shown just below right center on this map<br/>
  or at least it was a novelty to me<br/>
involving the pennsylvania town of birmingham & county of chester<br/>
evidently an odd result of the reduction in 1850 of the original 1701 arc<br/>
radius<br/>
by which delaware did lose a mile wide sweep of land beyond the present arc<br/>
<br/>
i should probably emphasize again however that delaware never really lost<br/>
the wedge<br/>
<br/>
citizens living in the wedge continued to vote & serve on juries & pay<br/>
taxes in delaware & to enjoy the services & recognition of that state<br/>
however much they may have been scratching their heads thru it all<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
for her info perhaps too<br/>
the original depa arc was surveyed in 1701 by isaac taylor & thomas pierson<br/>
<br/>
mason & dixon didnt change it but did check it around 1765 & i think they<br/>
must have given it a reluctant blessing rather than do it over<br/>
for its radius was about a mile too long<br/>
<br/>
it seems that mason & dixon<br/>
who did create demd & mdpa  as the lady says<br/>
did so in conformity with the 1701 depa curve<br/>
<br/>
in other words<br/>
it seems all 3 intercolonial & later interstate boundaries did meet at the<br/>
present demdpa point from 1765 until 1850<br/>
contrary to her basic assumption<br/>
<br/>
the changes in the arc or arcs occurred in surveys of 1850 & 1892<br/>
<br/>
the tiny eastwest leg of depa & the wedge below it were created in the<br/>
survey of 1850<br/>
<br/>
some 20th century dates are also frequently given<br/>
but these simply refer to the long delayed official ratifications in<br/>
harrisburg & dover & washington of changes that had never really occurred<br/>
locally within the wedge area anyway<br/>
<br/>
feel free to adapt any of this info to enhance her report<br/>
if you should care to<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
more to come tho on the strange journey to the pacific of the mason dixon line<br/>
a favorite fantasy of my own<br/>
<br/>
m<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
ps<br/>
welcome back & thanx also to bob for the very interesting korea report<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<blockquote><span title="qreply"> &gt;<br/>
&gt;The following comment was taken from the sci.engr.surveying newsgroup:<br/>
&gt;<br/>
&gt;&quot;Having grown up in DE, the center of the curved border is the state<br/>
&gt;house in New<br/>
&gt;Castle DE.  I don&#39;t think it was surveyed by Mason & Dixon...but I<br/>
&gt;don&#39;t recall who<br/>
&gt;surveyed it originally.  The horizontal line between MD and PA was<br/>
&gt;done by Mason &<br/>
&gt;Dixon.  And I think Mason & Dixon did the vertical line between MD<br/>
&gt;and DE.<br/>
&gt;<br/>
&gt;The interesting story is that the curved border at the top of DE and<br/>
&gt;the straight<br/>
&gt;line between MD and PA and the straight line between MD and DE were<br/>
&gt;supposed to<br/>
&gt;meet at one point.  They didn&#39;t and until the early part of this<br/>
&gt;century, the piece<br/>
&gt;enclosed by the curved and straight lines, &quot;the wedge&quot; did not belong<br/>
&gt;to any<br/>
&gt;state.  So, if you were wanted for justice, you could hide out in this<br/>
&gt;approximately one sq mile area and be untouchable.  DE finally<br/>
&gt;annexed the wedge in<br/>
&gt;about 1920, which is why the border of DE is circular curved at top,<br/>
&gt;goes<br/>
&gt;horizontal for a small bit, and then goes vertical along a N-S<br/>
&gt;boundary of MD.<br/>
&gt;<br/>
&gt;The state house in New Castle tells this story when you take a tour<br/>
&gt;of it.<br/>
&gt;<br/>
&gt;Martina L. Moore, PE<br/>
&gt;CM Group, Inc.&quot; </span></blockquote></div>