The Supreme Court decision is at
http://tinyurl.com/3vrql , and it does indeed
place MDWV at the low-water mark on the south bank of the Potomac, on the same
grounds as MDVA was similarly placed in the arbitration of 1877 (after the
independence of WV from VA), those grounds being the MSVA compact of 1785.
The decree near the end of the decision described MDWV thus:
"Beginning at the common corner of the states of Maryland and Virginia, on the
southern bank of the Potomac river, at low-water mark, at or near the mouth of
the Shenandoah river (near Harper's Ferry), and running thence with the southern
bank of the said Potomac river, at low-water mark, and with the southern bank of
the North Branch of the Potomac river at low- water mark, to the point where the
north and south line from the Fairfax stone crosses the said North Branch of the
Potomac, and thence running northerly, as near as may be, with the Deakins or
Old State line to the line of the state of Pennsylvania."
I would conclude that, since VAWV is delimited as a drainage divide, any
necessary stitch (between the possibly incomplete survey heretofore done and the
low-water mark) should follow the last whimper of the ridge line across that
portion of the bed of the river that lies between the high- and low-water marks.
Put another way, the MDVAWV tripoint should be at the point of exposed land that
is, when river flow is at its lowest, farthest from the point where the VAWV
survey strikes the high-water mark.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "aletheiak" <aletheiak@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 8:06 PM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] mathews & nelson arrive with several surprises
> the long elusive & then long awaited mathews & nelson 1928
> mdva report
> once believed indispensable for determining true mdvawv
> & later believed indispensable for determining true dcmdvan
> & subsequently lost en route from denver for so long that all
> hope of its arrival was abandoned last week
> finally reached me from out of the blue here today on cream hill
>
> but this document isnt at all what we imagined it was
>
> its purpose was simply to correct some minor mistakes the
> usgs cartographers had made circa 1897 in interpreting the
> meaning of the 1877 mdva arbitral award
> mainly at the mouths of tributaries & at some other embayments
> but all situated without exception
> downriver
> from the district of columbia
> yikes
>
> so
> the report & maps completely ignore the upper potomac sector
> from dcmdvan to mdvawv
>
> hahahahaha
>
> which marks easily the second if not the third bubble burst by
> this single document
>
>
> & to add to the irony
> even if it had been the right stuff
> as i once so confidently believed & predicted
> & actually not just once but once for each of these tripoints in turn
> the scale is still too small to produce a state line any finer than
> about 10 or 15 feet wide
>
> meaning
> it would not have refined but only confounded our tries for both of
> these tripoints
> even if the data & maps it provides had been relevant to either of
> them
> hahahahahaha
> which i can now confidently conclude they definitely arent
>
>
> the report does however reconfirm & underscore the fact that
> dcmdvan
> is indeed at the
> low water mark
> properly so called
>
> whatever that may mean
>
> & wherever it may lie
>
>
> for of course one never actually sees a low water mark per se
>
> & that is so not only because low water doesnt normally leave a
> mark
> but also because a water level even lower than low water would
> be needed to reveal a low water mark as an impression on land
> rather than as just the surface of the water running past it
> which might not normally be called a mark
>
> strictly speaking
> the waters edge could produce a water line
> but not really any mark at all
>
>
> in any case the challenge now shifts from learning exactly where
> to learning first exactly when
> low water occurs
>
>
> i think i would accept the official zero stage for that
> if indeed it ever occurs
>
> otherwise i suppose the average yearly low water stage
>
> but anyway what does anybody think of that
>
>
> for at the same time
> just as all these surprising truths are setting us free
> it is most liberating to realize that the low water determination
> will be left entirely to our own judgment now rather than handed
> down to us on a platter by any authority
> for i believe we have now completed all the research diligence
> we can hope to do for both mdvawv & dcmdvan
>
>
>
> but i must also report a final bubble that is likely also burst by the
> report
> namely
> our belief that the 1877 award changing the high water line of the
> original maryland charter to the low water line applied only to
> mdva & not at all to mdwv
>
> for there is appended to the report a 1910 supreme court opinion
> in 217us577 apparently extending the award of low water mark
> to mdwv also
> yikes
>
> & on top of that
> the 1877 award does clearly state
> true mdva begins at a point on the potomac where vawv strikes it
> at the low water mark
>
> which if correct
> as i believe is now inescapable
> means
> back to the drawing board for mdvawv too
> given that the official border blueprint showing a vawv terminus
> at the high water mark must therefore be incomplete
>
> & after such a beguilingly close encounter with closure by mere
> measuring tape
> the question there
> in the absence of any data whatsoever
> reverts back again to
> what is the true bearing & length of the missing tripointing stitch
>
> which is exactly where i thought it stood when last i visited
>
>
> but anyway the more lost illusions the better
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
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