Subject: try pointing for a 1769 usny3kiqu turnstone in the news<br/>
Date: May 17, 2002 @ 12:33<br/>
Author: acroorca2002 (&quot;acroorca2002&quot; &lt;orc@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-207490675">following is a quick translation of a story in yesterdays ny times<br/>
<br/>
headline<br/>
its a boulder all right<br/>
but was it once a border<br/>
<br/>
subhead<br/>
marker lost to history is found<br/>
maybe<br/>
<br/>
article<br/>
if only this were a simple story about a rock<br/>
the happy tale of a 10000 year old nyc artifact that is finally in<br/>
2002 getting its proper due<br/>
<br/>
but the rock in question is arbitration rock<br/>
a glacial boulder the size of a vw beetle that tumbled down onto a<br/>
patch of salty marshland during the ice age & landed somewhere near<br/>
what is now the brooklyn queens border<br/>
<br/>
centuries later in 1769 the rock was used<br/>
along with a heap of stones & an oak tree<br/>
to mark the border between kings & queens counties<br/>
ending a bitter boundary war that had festered for more than 100 years<br/>
<br/>
what happened to the rock over the ensuing 233 years is a swirling<br/>
historical mystery that was supposed to have been solved in 2000<br/>
when city officials ended a 7year archeological hunt<br/>
dug deep into the ground<br/>
& hoisted a huge rock out of the earth with a crane<br/>
<br/>
while its very name<br/>
arbitration<br/>
suggests that this is a rock about settling things<br/>
the boulder <br/>
now in the backyard of an 18th century house in queens<br/>
is itself the subject of a dispute just a month before it is to be<br/>
officially unveiled & celebrated as the real arbitration rock<br/>
<br/>
the conflicting views on arbitration rock & the boulder sitting behind<br/>
a fence at the vander ende onderdonk house in ridgewood queens could<br/>
leave a person questing for the truth feeling a bit like sisyphus<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
there is no question about it<br/>
said william asadorian<br/>
an archeologist & queens historian who led the 7year mission to find<br/>
arbitration rock<br/>
the rock that we came across is the one in question<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
arbitration rock has disappeared<br/>
james riker<br/>
a historian who grew up on the queens side of the line<br/>
in what was called newtown<br/>
wrote in 1852<br/>
<br/>
the boulder <br/>
he insisted <br/>
was blown to pieces & removed by individuals who know not its value as<br/>
an ancient & important landmark<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
the old rock is still in existence<br/>
henry r stiles a brooklyn historian wrote 28 years later in 1880 after<br/>
a search party formed on the brooklyn side of the border in the town<br/>
of bushwick went looking for the rock & claimed to have found it<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
no one is 100 percent certain<br/>
bob singleton <br/>
a queens historian & descendant of settlers who lived on the queens<br/>
side in the 1700s <br/>
said last week<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
it is bona fide arbitration rock<br/>
said stanley cogan <br/>
the official historian of queens<br/>
standing firmly by the findings of the 21st century search party<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
arbitration rock<br/>
whats that<br/>
said ron schweiger the official historian of brooklyn<br/>
who was appointed in january 2001 a year after the boulder was excavated<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
some of the mystery hovering over the rock stems from the fact that<br/>
arbitration<br/>
large as it is<br/>
was missing for almost a century<br/>
<br/>
there is widespread agreement that the heap of stones with a stake in<br/>
the middle that was also used to define the 1769 border between<br/>
brooklyn & queens<br/>
known as arbitration heap<br/>
is long gone<br/>
<br/>
but arbitration rock was so sturdy<br/>
so seemingly unmovable<br/>
<br/>
how could it have diappeared<br/>
<br/>
in 1900<br/>
about 20 years after the brooklyn search party located what was<br/>
described as arbitration rock<br/>
it apparently was photographed on onderdonk ave near flushing ave in<br/>
ridgewood along the original brooklyn queens boundary<br/>
<br/>
parens<br/>
but at least one historian has questioned the authenticity of the photo<br/>
saying the background was mysteriously wiped out<br/>
close parens<br/>
<br/>
then the rock was lost again<br/>
<br/>
it was pictured again in 1919 poking out of the ground & under the<br/>
foot of charles underhill powell<br/>
a historian who was chief of the queens county topographical bureau<br/>
<br/>
then it was forgotten<br/>
because meanwhile there were other troubles on the brooklyn queens border<br/>
where the boundary line<br/>
drawn before the rapid residential development of ridgewood in the 1900s<br/>
was leading to vexing problems<br/>
<br/>
time was<br/>
the straight brooklyn queens boundary line was running thru the middle<br/>
of houses<br/>
& some people had kitchens in queens & livingrooms in brooklyn<br/>
in addition to facing confusion about voting & tax rates<br/>
<br/>
so in 1925 the ny state legislature redrew the brooklyn queens border<br/>
into a jagged line that still exists<br/>
<br/>
thus arbitration rock wound up in queens<br/>
<br/>
but by then the rock had been lost again<br/>
perhaps paved over by streets according to one theory<br/>
<br/>
no one was really sure<br/>
<br/>
& no one seemed to care much until mr asadorian began his search<br/>
leading the citys dept of environmental protection to dig into<br/>
onderdonk avenue<br/>
<br/>
mr asadorian began the search after seeing the 1919 photograph of the<br/>
rock at the library<br/>
<br/>
i always wondered what became of it<br/>
he said<br/>
<br/>
using survey & real estate maps that dated back centuries<br/>
mr asadorian led city officials<br/>
who agreed to dig for the rock before a utility company was to work on<br/>
the area<br/>
to the boulder<br/>
<br/>
parens<br/>
the dig was financed by the queens borough presidents office & was<br/>
estimed to have cost 10 grand<br/>
close parens<br/>
<br/>
but because others in the past presumably had access to the same maps<br/>
& could not find arbitration<br/>
& because the boulder that was excavated was found slightly east of<br/>
the original location<br/>
some historians say that what was unearthed may be another rock<br/>
<br/>
there were other glacial bolders in the area<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
the clincher for brian merlis<br/>
a brooklyn historian who has written 7 books about the borough<br/>
involves initials that were supposedly carved into the rock in 1769<br/>
when it was used to mark the border<br/>
<br/>
they were <br/>
n for newtown on the queens side<br/>
& b for bushwick on the brooklyn side<br/>
or so the story goes<br/>
<br/>
those initials have not been found on the boulder that was dug up in 2000<br/>
nor did they appear in either of the 2 historical photographs<br/>
<br/>
if it doesnt have the initials on it<br/>
its not the rock<br/>
mr merlis said<br/>
<br/>
but mr asadorian said the initials might have been scratched into the<br/>
granite rock<br/>
not chiseled<br/>
& that would account for their disappearance over time<br/>
<br/>
another historian said there was no proof that the rock had initials<br/>
on it in the first place<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
then there is the question of where the rock should live out the rest<br/>
of its life<br/>
a subject that touched off an interborough quarrel when the rock was<br/>
dug out & moved <br/>
a few hundred feet southeast<br/>
along the 1769 brooklyn queens boundary line to the onderdonk house<br/>
<br/>
in queens of course<br/>
said mr cogan the official queens historian<br/>
adding that while it was once on the border<br/>
the bolder has been in queens for 77 years<br/>
since the boundary was redrawn<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
it should be cut in half & the other half should be a monument in brooklyn<br/>
said mr melis only half joking<br/>
<br/>
i think brooklyn might need to look into this<br/>
<br/>
he added<br/>
you know <br/>
they made all this effort to dig up a 10000 year old rock <br/>
& now the rock is being disputed<br/>
<br/>
i guess we will just add another 100 years to the whole thing<br/>
endquote <br/>
& end of story<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
3 pix & 2 maps & the original english as soon as i can get it all<br/>
scanned etc<br/>
hopefully in time for the official unveiling fracas next month<br/>
<br/>
m</div>