Description
Book SynopsisThe second edition of
Drawing the Line: How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Famous Border in America updates Edwin Danson's definitive history of the creation of the Mason - Dixon Line to reflect new research and archival documents that have come to light in recent years.
- Features numerous updates and revisions reflecting new information that has come to light on surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon
- Reveals the true origin of the survey's starting point and the actual location of the surveyors' observatory in Embreeville
- Offers expanded information on Mason and Dixon's transit of Venus adventures, which would be an important influence on their future work, and on Mason's final years pursuing a share of the fabulous Longitude prize, and his death in Philadelphia
- Includes a new, more comprehensive appendix describing the surveying methods utilized to establish the Mason-Dixon Line
Table of ContentsList of Figures ix
Acknowledgments for the Revised Edition xii
Introduction to the Revised Edition xiii
1 In the Reign of George the Third 1
2 The Fortieth Degree 6
3 Kings and Queens 14
4 Entirely at a Stand 20
5 Curious Knowing People 34
6 The Transit of Venus 51
7 Mr. Bird’s Contrivances 65
8 Persons Intirely Accomplished 71
9 The Southernmost Point of the City 80
10 15 Statute Miles, Horizontal 98
11 The Tail of Ursae Minoris 109
12 Fine Sport for the Boys 116
13 From the Post mark’d West 123
14 The Pencil of Time 131
15 King of the Tuscarawa 140
16 From Hence; to the Summit 150
17 At a Council of the Royal Society 160
18 Vibration of the Pendulum 167
19 Not One Step Further 176
20 A Degree of Latitude 189
21 The Last Transit 196
22 A Very Helpless Condition 202
23 Finishing the Job 216
Appendix 225
Astronomy 225
Longitude, Latitude, and the Shape of Earth 228
Surveying Methods 230
Degrees of Latitude: A Short History 239
The Mystery of the Mason–Dixon Mile 242
Bibliography 245
Index 251
