Drawing the Line : How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Famous Border in America

by Danson, Edwin

• ISBN13: 9780471385028
• ISBN10: 0471385026
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-12-20
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

THE FIRST POPULAR HISTORY OF THE MAKING OF THE MASON-DIXON LINE The Mason-Dixon line-surely the most famous surveyors' line ever drawn-represents one of the greatest and most difficult scientific achievements of its time. But behind this significant triumph is a thrilling story, one that has thus far eluded both historians and surveyors. In this engrossing narrative, professional surveyor Edwin Danson takes us on a fascinating journey with Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two gifted and exuberant English surveyors, through the fields and forests of eighteenth-century America. Vividly describing life in the backwoods and the hardships and dangers of frontier surveying, Drawing the Line discloses for the first time in 250 years many hitherto unknown surveying methods, revealing how Mason and Dixon succeeded where the best American surveyors of the period failed. In accessible, ordinary language, Danson masterfully throws the first clear light on the surveying of the Mason-Dixon line. Set in the social and historical context of pre-Revolutionary America, this book is a spellbinding account of one of the great and historic achievements of its time. Advance Praise for Drawing the Line "Drawing the Line combines a fast-moving story, a human drama, and a clear account of surveying in the era of George Washington. An intriguing interaction of politics and science."-CHARLES ROYSTER, Boyd Professor of History, Louisiana State University, and Winner of the Bancroft Prize in History

Author Biography

EDWIN DANSON is a geodetic surveyor with some 35 years of experience working on assignments in many countries, including the United States. He is a Chartered Surveyor of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors. He has made many contributions to professional journals and books and is a prominent authority in his field. He lives near London, England.

Table of Contents

Prologue	1	(4)
In the Reign of George the Third	5	(5)
The Fortieth Degree	10	(8)
The Great Chancery Suit	18	(9)
La Figure de la Terre	27	(13)
The Transit of Venus	40	(20)
Mr. Bird's Contrivances	60	(11)
``Persons Intirely Accomplished''	71	(8)
The Southernmost Point of the City	79	(14)
Fifteen Statute Miles, Horizontal	93	(10)
The Tail of Ursae Minoris	103	(7)
Fine Sport for the Boys	110	(5)
``From the Post Mark'd West''	115	(10)
The Pencil of Time	125	(10)
``King of the Tuscarawa''	135	(9)
From Hence; to the Summit	144	(11)
At a Council of the Royal Society	155	(7)
Vibration of the Pendulum	162	(10)
Not One Step Further	172	(12)
A Degree of Latitude	184	(8)
The Last Transit	192	(5)
Legacy	197	(10)
Appendix	207	(12)
Bibliography	219	(4)
Index	223