"Flynn, Kevin" <flynnk@...> wrote:

& the ladies were xeroxing their hearts out there for us this morning

including a replacement for my lost perry article

etc

etc

etc

i couldnt quite bring myself to ask them to xerox the entire huge file for me

but if you ever have any unanswered delaware arc queries etc

be sure to check this happy & well stacked source first

I take it you're talking about the files and not the museum ladies?

hahaha

all the above to be sure

& here at the national archives

13 boxes of nj v del & 11 volumes of exquisitely delicious old folding maps later

burrrp

it turns out the special masters report is not included in the archived material under this case after all

hahaha

& the researchers here have thrown up their hands for it

& sent me off to the supreme court library

which they assured me in advance would send me back here to the national archives

etc etc

but what i have found here does make it clear that we dont really need to hear it in the words of the special master after all either

since several 19th & early 20th century maps submitted by new jersey do show the depa arc extended by the geographers of that state down to the subsequently adjudicated denj arc location just south of alloways creek

aha

at approximately nlat 39d29m30s

it isnt clear what center point these mapmakers used to project the arc

nor even why they did extend it across dry nj territory

but it looks like a continuous sweep of arc

& it is at least imperceptibly feathered into the depa arc

from denjpa eastward & southward & westward across new jersey

as far as the delaware river again just south of alloways creek

& across the tip of artificial island

which was actually still an island around 1925

& only later became the peninsula it is today

so much for my belief i would never see such a map of transdelawarean arc

let alone drawn by a jerseyan

there is even a 1682 map by penn in the file showing the circle all across new jersey too

superimposed over earlier land grants by fenwick

& which also has its southern extremity of arc only about 3 quarters of a mile south of alloways creek & reedy island even then

so there is at least a strong historical precedent or tradition

in addition to the cartographic acquiescence by nj in this general location

near the mouth of alloways creek

so however misguided & however mismeasured it all may have been

i figure this preapproved position by nj was at least something for the special master & the court to hang their hat on

so i guess they went for it without ever feeling the need to actually integrate it into any of the preexisting arc geometry or measurements themselves

& of course theres lots more to report after such a map orgy

but in due time

since jane is waiting in the park & probably wondering whats taking me so long

beeps

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