Boundary Disputes Mineral, West VA (was VA) and Maryland

 Research on the Boundary Between Maryland and Hampshire County, Virginia (Now Mineral County, West Virginia)

Map: http://dsl.richmond.edu/historicalatlas/98/a/  Published by the Andrew Mellon Foundation

Citing: Paullin, C. Oscar., Wright, J. Kirtland., American Geographical Society of New York., Carnegie Institution of Washington. Division of Historical Research. (1932). Atlas of the historical geography of the United States. [Washington, D. C.: Pub. jointly by Carnegie institution of Washington and the American geographical society of New York.

Western Boundary of Maryland
[PLATE 98A]

"The drainage and projection of this map are taken from the maps of West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland, scale 1:500,000, published by the U. S. Geological Survey, 1913-1914, The northern boundary of Maryland, part of which is shown, was run in 1763-1767 (see p. 85, below).

According to the Maryland charter of 1632 the boundary of Maryland ran along the fortieth degree of latitude unto the true meridian of the first Fountain of the River of Pattowmack, thence verging toward the South, unto the further Bank of the said River (F. N. Thorpe, Federal and State Constitutions, Washington, 1909, Vol. 3, p. 1678; see Pl. 43A and p. 28, above). From this description it may be seen that the location of the western boundary of Maryland depended largely upon the location of the source of the Potomac River. No effort was made to locate the source of the Potomac until 1733, when Lord Fairfax, who inherited a large tract of land in Virginia between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, petitioned the king to appoint commissioners to determine the boundaries. The petition was granted, and in 1736 commissioners, appointed by Fairfax and the state of Virginia, decided that the North Branch of the Potomac River was the main branch of that stream, and directed their surveyors to survey it (see Pl. 51A and p. 38, above). In 1746 a second survey of the Fairfax tract authorized by the King in Council was made, and the source of the North Branch was marked by a stone called the Fairfax Stone (Transcript of Record, Maryland v. West Virginia, U. S. Supreme Court, 1909, Vol. 2, pp. 1208-1243; Acts of Privy Council, Colonial Series, Vol. 3, 1720-1745, Hereford, 1910, pp. 385-391). In 1753 Lord Baltimore asserted a claim to the South Branch of the Potomac River and the meridian of its head. In 1771 Maryland marked the source of the South Branch and surveyed a north line therefrom (Transcript of Record, Maryland v. West Virginia, U. S. Supreme Court, 1909, Vol. 1, pp.541-542; Vol. 2, pp. 1301-1306; Documents Relating to Western and Southern Boundary of States of Maryland and Virginia, Richmond, 1874, pp. 66-67). The line of the South Branch and the meridian of its source was claimed by Maryland at various times until 1910, when the dispute was finally settled. It is represented by line 1-a solid blue line.

After the surveys of 1736 and 1746 Virginia accepted as her boundarythe North Branch of the Potomac and the meridian of its head, and passed various laws based on this view of her limits (West Virginia Brief in Maryland v. West Virginia, U. S. Supreme Court, 1909, pp. 30-36; Transcript of Record, Maryland v. West Virginia, U. S. Supreme Court, 1909, Vol. 2, pp. 1252-1281). In 1787 Francis Deakins, under orders from Maryland to layoff bounty lands westward of Fort Cumberland, ran a meridian line from the Fairfax Stone northward to the Pennsylvania boundary, which afterwards proved to be not a true north-and­south line. In the following year Maryland passed a law in which she stated that the Deakins line lay far within her rightful boundary, that is within the line of the South Branch and the meridian of its head (line 1) (ibid., Vol. 1, p. 366; Vol. 2, pp. 1307-1308). In course of time, however, the Deakins line was generally accepted as the boundary. The western boundary of Maryland according to the surveys of 1736, 1746, and 1787 is represented by line 2-a solid red line. The part of this line north of the Fairfax Stone is the Deakins line. It runs slightly east of north.

From 1795 to 1863, when West Virginia became a state, Maryland and Virginia made many attempts to establish permanently their boundary. In 1818 and 1852 Maryland passed laws that conceded the North Branch of the Potomac to be the boundary. In 1832, however, she reasserted her right to the South Branch and the meridian of its head (line 1). Virginia claimed the North Branch and the meridian of the Fairfax Stone. In 1852 Maryland conceded the meridian of the Fairfax Stone to be her boundary (W. H. Browne and A. Ritchie, Report of Committee of Maryland Hist. Soc. on Western Boundary of Maryland, Baltimore, 1890, pp. 15-26; Transcript of Record, Maryland v. West Virginia, U. S. Supreme Court, 1909, Vol. 2, pp. 1317-1363).

In 1858, in accordance with a Virginia act of that year and a Maryland act of 1852, N. W. McDonald of Virginia and T. J. Lee of Maryland were appointed commissioners to settle the whole of the disputed boundary between the two states. In the following year McDonald advanced the claim that the western boundary of Maryland was a line drawn from the point of intersection of the meridian of the Fairfax Stone with the Pennsylvania boundary to the nearest point on the Potomac River (ibid., Vol. 1, pp. 433-434). This claim is represented by line 3-a short-dash red line.

Acting under the orders of Lee and McDonald, Lieutenant N. Michler of the U. S. Topographic Corps in 1859 ran a true meridian from the Fairfax Stone. This intersected the Pennsylvania line about three fourths of a mile west of the corresponding intersection made by the Deakins line (Report relative to Boundary Line between Maryland and Virginia, January 9, 1860, Richmond, 1874, p. 21). The Michler line is represented by line 4-a short-dash black line.

In 1860 Maryland passed an act confirming the Michler line. Virginia, however, did not confirm it. In 1863 West Virginia became a state and soon after the Civil War took steps to effect a settlement of the disputed boundary. In 1887 she confirmed conditionally the Michler line. The condition was that Maryland should confirm all the Virginia patents to land between the Michler and Deakins lines (Browne and Ritchie, op cit., pp. 25-30). Instead of meeting this condition, Maryland in 1891 began a suit in equity in the U. S. Supreme Court to obtain a final settlement of the dispute. In her bill of complaint she asserted her right to the South Branch of the Potomac River and the meridian of its source (line 1), and prayed that this boundary be established. In 1893 West Virginia filed a cross bill, in which she claimed the North Branch of the Potomac and the Deakins line (line 2) (Transcript of Record, Maryland v. West Virginia, U. S. Supreme Court, 1909, Vol. 1, pp. 2 and 76).

When the case was tried in 1909 each state presented extensive briefs and arguments. Maryland did not at this time press her claim to the South Branch, but, assuming that the North Branch was the main stream of the Potomac, she claimed a new western line, the meridian of the Potomac Stone, which was about a mile and a quarter westward of the meridian of the Fairfax Stone. The Potomac Stone was set in 1897 by a Maryland surveyor to mark a source of the North Branch lying to the westward and northward of the Fairfax Stone (Maryland Brief in Maryland v. West Virginia, U. S. Supreme Court, 1909, p. 24; U. S. Supreme Court Reports, Vol. 217, 1909, p. 29). The claim of Maryland to the meridian of the Potomac Stone is represented by line 5-a short-dash blue line.

In 1910 the Supreme Court decided that the Deakins line was the western boundary of Maryland and by this decision established the North Branch as the main stream of the Potomac (ibid., p. 46)* The line established by the decision of the court is represented by line 2."