Since Yahoo Groups has been keeping many of our posts in ethereal storage for
about two days and then delivering them profoundly out of chronological order, I
am more than a bit confused by your three natches in a row.
I do understand, though, your basic question and can answer: Yes, I think that
I should be able to correlate Ellicott's strip maps of the line with the USGS
topo maps. His maps show stream crossings and the numbered mounds at one-mile
intervals.
The mile mounds number eastward from an initial point that Ellicott called
"point D," which he described as "at the foot of a steep hill." There is every
indication from his maps that this hill is the bluff that constitutes the
geomorphologic valley wall at the edge of the Mississippi River flood plain,
just west of the intersecting valley of Hunter Creek. In the numbering scheme,
point D would equal mound number zero. (Points A, B, and C had to do with his
calculation of the precise 31st parallel by astronomical and geometric means,
but are not necessarily on the line itself.) From point D, Ellicott started the
line eastward up into the loessial Tunica Hills, then corrected its deviation to
within the limits of his instruments. Next, he surveyed back westward through
point D to the bank of the river. Here are his words:
"The line being extended to the margin of the Mississippi on the 17th of August,
the measurement from the point D was found to be 2 miles and 180 perches English
measure, or 2111.42 French toises. At the distance of 1 and 2 miles at the
points x and y, were erected square posts surrounded by mounds of earth, and at
the distance of 88 French feet from the margin of the river, and in the parallel
of latitude was erected a square post 10 feet high surrounded by a mound of
eight feet in height. On this post is inscribed on the south side a crown with
the letter R underneath; on the north U. S. and the west fronting the river,
Agosto 18th, 1798. Lat. 31° N."
I find that an English perch is equal to 16.5 feet, precisely what we would call
a rod. A French toise is six French feet. A French foot equals 1.06575 English
feet.
Thus, the tall mound near the river (which Ellicott's map calls "point z")
should have been 13,436 feet (approximately 2.54 miles) west of point D at the
base of the bluff. The bank of the river is now approximately 3.8 miles west of
the bluff. Therefore, the tall point z mound might possibly survive--if the
river didn't meander eastward before meandering westward.
I have carefully measured eastward from point D on my maps and the topo maps at
TerraServer. I have determined that the benchmark on the LAMS boundary just
west of US 61 is not at a mile interval. The nearest Ellicott mound should be
well east of the highway. I theorize that this is an ordinary roadside
benchmark related to highway engineering. The other elevations on the topos
that I have found along the western part of the line are stated elevations, not
bench marks. Some might correlate to mound locations. I have also selected a
few likely hypothetical mound locations that should be relatively accessible.
Those will be my primary objectives whenever I undertake any expedition.
I am now pursuing a wild theory that will require some research for confirmation
before I enunciate it. I'll let you know if it pans out. I want to get that
straight before planning any travel. I might also want to wait until the leaves
are off and the bugs are fewer.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "aletheia kallos" <aletheiak@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 8:17 AM
Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Re: The Journal of Andrew Ellicott
> ok we have a hit already on the latter question
> at beautiful flga2bachwa in the okefenokee
> http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=17&n=3382415&e=383520&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
> so having paid our dues & earned our tax deduction too
> for discussing business as it were before pleasure
> we can concentrate on the former question
> or on any other question you like
>
> yikes now that i mention it tho
> i even recall advancing to within 1000 yards of this
> baby once
> before ultimately having to blow it off
> as recently as messages 5840 etc
>
> --- aletheiak <aletheiak@...> wrote:
>
>> yikes its another natch
>> for 3 in a row
>>
>> natch
>> i multi touches
>>
>> so keep us abreast of your touches
>>
>>
>> also
>> the following may not be an easy question to answer
>> but it strikes me as a great one to ask at this
>> point
>> & you may already be hinting at pursuing it anyway
>>
>> can any of ellicotts mound location descriptions be
>> hypothetically linked to any of the 17
>> usgs topo elevation points already noticed on lams
>>
>>
>> & for extra fun credit
>> as well as probably even harder to answer
>> yet just so we remain hypothetically on topic too
>> can any of them be hypothetically linked to any
>> known multipoint
>>
>> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G.
>> McManus" <mcmanus71496@m...>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > I went to Natchitoches today to access Ellicott's
>> journal in the Watson Library
>> > at Northwestern State University of Louisiana.
>> NSU does indeed have two copies,
>> > one of the original 1803 edition and one of the
>> 1962 reprint.
>> >
>> > The 1803 version is a large chunk of a book, about
>> three inches thick with many
>> > fold-out maps scattered through it. I handled and
>> read it with awe! The book
>> > had once been part of the private library of the
>> lady after whom the special
>> > research collections room is named. It had prices
>> of $1 and $10 written in
>> > brown ink inside its covers. (Didn't we see one a
>> couple of days ago that was
>> > selling on the web for $4,000?) When it came to
>> making photocopies of a few of
>> > the maps, I switched to the reprint, not wanting
>> to subject the ancient edition
>> > to that kind of handling. The reprint has the
>> maps reproduced smaller on
>> > regular book pages, all of them in the back, but
>> an enlarging copy machine
>> > produced useable results.
>> >
>> > The book covers Ellicott's dealings with the
>> Spanish, reproduces his official
>> > letters, and details his techniques. He gives us
>> his astronomical observations
>> > and mathematical calculations, tells us the
>> temperatures each day, and recounts
>> > every time he wound or cleaned his clock.
>> Unfortunately for our purposes, he
>> > leaves most of the details of his product, the
>> line itself, to his field notes.
>> > The strip maps of the line, though, do show each
>> numbered mile and many of the
>> > stream courses that cross it, a few of them named.
>> With some study, I should be
>> > able to correlate with modern maps to determine
>> sites worthy of inspection.
>> >
>> > I will keep the group informed as such study
>> evolves.
>> >
>> > Lowell G. McManus
>> > Leesville, Louisiana, USA
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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