I'm trying to find the time to delve into the legal history of this short arc
segment in an effort to understand its apparent undermeasurement, but in the
meantime, I've found this:
The 2003 Annual Report to the Governor on the "Delaware Spatial Data Framework"
by "The Delaware Spatial Data Implementation Team" [I-Team] contained the
following two paragraphs:
_____
> In 2003, the USGS and the Delaware Geological Survey worked together to create
> a new, highly accurate state boundary data set. This boundary has been
> mathematically derived to match the locations of the 179 historic monuments
> that mark portions of the actual state boundary. This project has also
> involved mapping the portion of the boundary that follows the 1934 mean low
> water line of the New Jersey side of the Delaware River within the 12-mile
> circle that partially delineates the northern part of the state.
> This project has highlighted some potential boundary issues that are now under
> legal review. Settling the questions raised by this project will be a task of
> the I-Team in 2004. As part of this process, the I-Team in 2004 will consider
> approving a "state outline" data set to show the shorelines of the river, bay
> and ocean that people tend to think of when they think of the shape of
> Delaware.
_____
In this regard, also see the PFD at
http://tinyurl.com/3u8jh . This is a
three-page summary of a February 2004 meeting held by the Delaware Geographic
Data Committee. The topic "Delaware Boundary Data Set" beginning on page 2
summarizes a presentation by Sandy Schenck (which is said to be attached to the
original document, but is not attached to the PDF). The Schenck presentation
supposedly covers the history of the surveys of each of the segments of the
Delaware boundary, the recent work by the USGS, and a descriptive error recently
discovered in the 1934 boundary on the left bank of the Delaware River. (I do
not suggest that this error is the apparent undermeasurement of the arc.) The
non-attached Schenck presentation might answer our questions if it could be
obtained.
Mike, perhaps you know this, but there is an on-line compilation of the
locations of and directions to each of the many Delaware boundary monuments and
reference monuments. It is accessed from
http://www.rdms.udel.edu/dgs/boundaryMap.html . (This includes DENJ Monument
Number 6 that you could not recover in the nuclear dump.)
As for the 1934 apparent undermeasurement of the 12-mile arc segment of DENJ, is
it possible that it is not an undermeasurement at all, but an accurate
twelve-mile measurement from a different center point in or about New Castle?
If this is the case, it begs the question of why there would be a different
center point. Your message below gives one possible explanation.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "aletheia kallos" <aletheiak@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 6:42 AM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] possible explanation for undermeasurement of 12mile arc
--- aletheiak <aletheiak@...> wrote:
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "aletheiak"
> <aletheiak@y...> wrote:
> >
> > interestingly
> > this lesser bit of rive gauche delaware was not
> the direct result
> of
> > such an avulsion as killcohook was
> >
> > nor could accretion ever create any left bank
> delaware either
> >
> > rather it was merely an accident of the belated
> backswing
> > following the 1934 supreme court decision
> > of the same 12mile new castle arc that has caused
> delaware
> to
> > have a round top since 1683
> >
> > & it is precisely upon this lesser of the 2 dry
> denj segments
> that
> > denj shifts from the jersey shore to midchannel
> > along this recent sequel to that ancient arc
> > cutting off a preexisting but artificial
> protruding tongue of land
> >
> > a very funny thing
> > & it all seems to have just happened by chance
> >
> > yet this sweep of 12mile arc was in fact badly
> mismeasured
> >
> > it would be a good topic in itself for further
> research
>
>
> & here is some already
>
> in item 4 of
>
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=2
> 95&invol=694
> the 7th numbered bound confirms my discovery
> made long ago by direct measurement of the paper
> topos
> that the actual radius of this 1934 aftersweep of
> the original
> 12mile new castle arc
> measures not 12 miles at all
> but only some 59764 feet
> or in other words 11 miles & about 1684 feet
> & is thus for some as yet unexplained reason about
> 3596 feet
> too short
>
> seeking an explanation in the original judgment of
> 1934 that
> ordered the survey that made the measurement
>
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=2
> 91&invol=361
> i found none
> tho there is incidentally an awfully interesting
> legal discussion
> there of the tension that has historically existed
> between the
> midriver & thalweg principles
> dating all the way back to freakin tacitus
>
> but my original questions remain
>
> how could such a flagrant mistake have been made in
> the first
> place
> & how could it then have been accepted by the
> special master &
> ultimately by the supreme court at large
> all of whom must have known full well there are 5280
> feet in a
> mile
>
> did everyone just assume & not bother to check the
> arithmetic
>
> other markers i have seen in this series
> especially number 1
> appear to have been installed so haphazardly that
> there is a real
> question in my mind about the basic competency &
> diligence of
> the surveyors
> & indeed of everyone involved
>
>
> but that is as far as i have been able to take it so
> far
>
> does anyone have any ideas
extending the new castle arc radius an additional 3596
feet here to complete its full 12 miles would have
caused it to cut off a much larger chunk of the
artificial island
which
because it is artificial
should belong to delaware not just at its tip
as it does now
but everywhere within the true 12 mile radius
this would have been a problem too because it isnt
obvious where the artificial island begins
since it isnt really an island at all but just a hugh
lot of backfill attached to the jersey shore
much like killcohook
but older
however
if as i surmise
the boundary shown on the topo for the
mad horse creek state wildlife management area
is the original natural left bank of the delaware
river
then that would have made the arc terminus rather easy
for the court to determine
for it would simply extend in that event as far
eastward as that line & no farther
& would thus include within delaware everything west
of that line & north of the arc
or in other words
all of the narrow projecting tongue plus some of its
wider base
in fact everything on the artificial island about as
far south as the f in the sideways word artificial
would have been delaware
& tho it wasnt in any of their job descriptions to
solve any such problems or cut any such corners as
these
but rather to reconstruct the original boundary as
faithfully as was later done on njny at ellis island
for example
maybe the court &or master &or surveyors just wanted
to avoid such a messy sort of outcome as that
& so quietly took it upon themselves to shorten the
arc a little
for extending it the full 12 miles here would have
produced a big chunk of left bank delaware much like
killcohook
but from the very birth of the new boundary in this
case rather than as a subsequent complication
& thus a glaring anomaly that they perhaps didnt want
to have to deal with & explain to an already indignant
new jersey at the time of the decision in 1934
so my guess now is that this measurement was
deliberately fudged & covered up at the time
& forgotten ever since
> > the artificial island obviously predates the 1934
> demarcation
> >
>
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=39.49917&lon=-75.54
> > & please zoom out from there to get your bearings
> if necessary
> >
> > i couldnt find denj marker artificial 6
> > tho i did find several of its mates
> >
> > of course i had to sneak in & out so it was kind
> of touch & go
> >
> > --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "aletheiak"
> > <aletheiak@y...> wrote:
> > >
> > > ron
> > >
> > > > Some of you in the USA may be aware that
> > > > a little piece of land connected to New Jersey
> > > > extends out into the Delaware River
> > > > into the territory the state of Delaware.
> > >
> > > indeed
>
> etc