35 degrees east, to said corner and along the westerly bounds of said lot, 30 chains, to a place on the westerly bank of Hosick River where a hemlock tree heretofore stood, noticed in said records as the most northerly corner of said lot; then north 1 degree and 20 minutes west, 6 chains to a monument erected by the said commissioners, standing on the westerly side of Hosick River, on the north side of the highway leading out of Hosick into Pownal, and near the northwesterly corner of the bridge crossing said river; then north 27 degrees and 20 minutes east, 30 chains, through the bed of the said river, to a large roundish rock on the northeasterly bank thereof; then north 25 degrees west, 16 chains and 70 links; then north 9 degrees west, 18 chains and 60 links, to a white oak tree, at the southwest corner of the land occupied in 1814 by Thomas Wilsey; then north 11 degrees east, 77 chains, to the north side of a highway, where it is met by a fence dividing the possession of said Thomas Wilsey, jr., and Emery Hunt; then north 46 degrees east, 6 chains; then south 66 degrees east, 26 chains and 25 links; then north 9 degrees east, 27 chains and 50 links, to a blue-slate stone, anciently set up for the southwest corner of Bennington; then north 7 degrees and 30 minutes east, 46 miles 43 chains and 50 links, to a bunch of hornbeam saplings on the south bank of Poultney River, the northernmost of which was marked by said last-mentioned commissioners, and from which a large butternut tree bears north 70 degrees west, 30 links, a large hard maple tree, south 2 chains and 86 links, and a white ash tree on the north side of said river, north 77 degrees east.

* then down the said Poultney River, through the deepest channel thereof, to East Bay; then through the middle of the deepest channel of East Bay and the waters thereof to where the same communicate with Lake Champlain; then through the middle of deepest channel of Lake Champlain to the eastward of the islands called the Four Brothers, and the westward of the islands called the Grand Isle and Long Isle, or the Two Heroes, and to the westward of the Isle La Motte to the line in the 45th degree of north latitude, established by treaty for the boundary line between the United States and the British Dominions.

This line was changed in 1876 by a cession from Vermont to New York of a very small area west of the village of Fair Haven and opposite the mouth of the Castleton River which had been left on the west side of the Poultney River by a change in the course of that stream, described as follows:

All that portion of the town of Fairhaven, in the county of Rutland and State of Vermont, lying westerly from the middle of the deepest channel of Poultney River, as it now runs, and between the middle of the deepest channel of said river and the west line of the State of Vermont as at present established. This cession was ratified by Congress April 7, 1880.25

The Vermont-New York line was resurveyed and re-marked in 1904 from the Massachusetts-Vermont-New York corner north to the Poultney River.26 There are now 101 substantial stone monuments on this line, which is 54.6 miles in length.

21 Stat. L. 72.

20 For a report of the survey, a plat of the line, and descriptions and coordinates of each mark, see New York State Engineer and Surveyor Rept. for 1904, pp. 301–345.

MASSACHUSETTS "

The territory of Massachusetts was included in the first charter of Virginia, granted in 1606, and in the charter of New England, granted in 1620.

In 1628 the council of Plymouth made a grant to the governor and company of Massachusetts Bay in New England, which was confirmed by the King, and a charter was granted in 1629, from which the following are extracts: 28

Nowe, Knowe Yee, that Wee

have given and graunted

all that Parte of Newe England in America which lyes and extendes betweene a greate River there comonlie called Monomack River, alias Merrimack River, and a certen other River there, called Charles River, being in the Bottome of a certen Bay there, comonlie called Massachusetts, alias Mattachusetts, alias Massatusetts Bay; and also all and singuler those Landes and Hereditament whatsoever, lying within the Space of Three English Myles on the South Parte of the said River, called Charles River, or of any, or every Parte thereof; and also all and singuler the Landes and Hereditaments whatsoever, lying and being within the space of Three Englishe Myles to the southward of the Southermost Parte of the said Baye, called Massachusetts, alias Mattachusetts, alias Massatusets Bay; and also, all those Landes and Hereditaments whatsoever, which lye and be within the Space of Three English Myles to the Northward of the saide River, called Monomack, alias Merrymack, or to the Norward of any and every Parte thereof, and all Landes and Hereditaments whatsoever, lyeing within the Lymitts aforesaide, North and South, in Latitude and Bredth, and in Length and Longitude, of and within all the Bredth aforesaide, throughout the mayne Landes there, from the Atlantick and Westerne Sea and Ocean on the East Parte, to the South Sea on the West Parte;

* Provided alwayes, That if the said Landes were at the tyme of the graunting of the saide former Letters patents, dated the Third Day of November, in the Eighteenth Yeare of our said deare Fathers Raigne aforesaide, actuallie possessed or inhabited by any other Christian Prince or State, or were within the Boundes, Lymytts or Territories of that Southerne Colony, then before graunted by our said late Father * That then

* *

* *

this present Graunt shall not extend to any such partes or parcells thereof, but as to those partes or parcells * shal be vtterlie voyd, theis presents or any Thinge therein conteyned to the contrarie notwithstanding.

The charter of New England was surrendered to the King in 1635.29

The charter of Massachusetts Bay, granted in 1629, was canceled by a judgment of the high court of chancery of England, June 18, 1684. In 1686 Pemaquid (part of the present State of Maine) and its dependencies were annexed to the New England government.

27 The full legal name for Massachusetts is "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts." 25 Thorpe, F. N., op. cit., vol. 3, p. 1849.

In 1691 a new charter was granted to Massachusetts Bay, which included Plymouth Colony and the Provinces of Maine and Nova Scotia. The following are extracts from this charter: 30

* Wee doe * will and Ordeyne that the Territories and Collnyes comonly called or known by the Names of the Collony of the Massachusetts Bay and Collony of New Plymouth the Province of Main the Territorie called Accadia or Nova Scotia and all that tract of land lying betweene the said Territories of Nova Scotia and the said Province of Main be Erected Vnited and Incorporated * * into one reall Province by the Name of Our Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. all that parte of New England in America lying and extending from the greate River comonly called Monomack als Merrimack on the Northpart and from three Miles Northward of the said River to the Atlantick or Western Sea or Ocean on the South part And all the Lands and Hereditaments whatsoever lying within the limits aforesaid and extending as farr as the Outermost Points or Promontories of Land called Cape Cod and Cape Mallabar North and South and in Latitude Breadth and in Length and Longitude of and within all the Breadth and Compass aforesaid throughout the Main Land there from the said Atlantick or Western Sea and Ocean on the East parte towards the South Sea or Westward as far as Our Collonyes of Rhode Island Connecticut and the Marragansett Countrey all alsoe all that part or porĉon of Main Land beginning at the Entrance of Pescata way Harbour and soe to pass vpp the same into the River of Newickewannock and through the same into the furthest head thereof and from thence Northwestward till One Hundred and Twenty miles be finished and from Piscata way Harbour mouth aforesaid North-Eastward along the Sea Coast to Sagadehock and from the Period of One Hundred and Twenty Miles aforesaid to crosse over Land to the One Hundred and Twenty Miles before reckoned vp into the Land from Piscataway Harbour through Newickawannock River and alsoe the North halfe of the Isles and Shoales together with the Isles of Cappawock and Nantukett near Cape Cod aforesaid and alsoe [all] Lands and Hereditaments lying and being in the Countrey and Territory comonly called Accadia or Nova Scotia And all those Lands and Hereditaments lying and extending betweene the said Countrey or Territory of Nova Scotia and the said River of Sagadahock or any part thereof And all Lands Grounds Places Soiles Woods and Wood grounds Havens Ports Rivers Waters and other Hereditaments and premisses whatsoever, lying within the said bounds and limitts aforesaid and every part and parcell thereof and alsoe all Islands and Isletts lying within tenn Leagues directly opposite to the Main Land within the said bounds.

The present northern boundary of Massachusetts was first surveyed and marked in 1741. (See New Hampshire, p. 83, and Vermont, p. 87.)

The east-west part of the boundary between Massachusetts and Rhode Island is a part of the original southerly line of the territory granted by the council at Plymouth to Sir Henry Roswell and others in the third year of the reign of King Charles I and redefined in the charter granted to the colony of Massachusetts Bay in This line was for more than 200 years a matter of dispute

1691.

30 Thorpe, F. N., op. cit., vol. 3, p. 1876.

that was in some respects the most remarkable boundary question with which this country has had to deal. Twice the question went to the Supreme Court of the United States,, and in one of these suits Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate were employed as counsel for Massachusetts. Choate, in order to illustrate the indefiniteness of certain boundary lines, said before the Massachusetts Legislature: The commissioners might as well have decided that the line between the States was bounded on the north by a bramble bush, on the south by a blue jay, on the west by a hive of bees in swarming time, and on the east by five hundred foxes with fire brands tied to their tails.

As early as 1642 the line between the two colonies was marked in part by Nathaniel Woodward and Solomon Saffrey, who set up on the plain of Wrentham a stake as the commencement of the line between Massachusetts Bay and Rhode Island. This stake was by them supposed to mark a point 3 miles south of the Charles River.

In 1710-11 commissioners appointed from Massachusetts and Rhode Island agreed upon the north line of Rhode Island, and their action was approved by the legislatures of both colonies. The agreement was as follows: 31

That the stake set up by Nathaniel Woodward and Solomon Saffrey, skilful, approved artists, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and fortytwo, and since that often renewed, in the latitude of forty-one degrees and fifty-five minutes, being three English miles distant southward from the southernmost part of the river called Charles River, agreeable to the letters-patent for the Massachusetts province, be accounted and allowed on both sides the commencement of the line between Massachusetts and the colony of Rhode

In 1719 this line was run by commissioners appointed for the purpose, but subsequent investigation has shown that it was run very inaccurately.32

The line between Massachusetts and the eastern part of Rhode Island was fixed by the commissioners in 1741. The colony of Rhode Island appealed from their decision to the King, but in 1746 he affirmed it by a royal decree.33 In accordance with this decree the line was run in 1746 by commissioners of Rhode Island whose report may be found in the United States Supreme Court records for the December term, 1852, pages 208-210.

In 1748 the Legislature of Rhode Island appointed commissioners to continue the line to the Connecticut corner, recognizing the Woodward and Saffrey stake as the place of beginning. Massachusetts failed to appoint commissioners, whereupon the Rhode Island com

4 Howard 631.

Sa Rhode Island Acts, May, 1867, pp. 6 et seq.

23 Certified copies of the proceedings in council and of the royal decree were among the documents presented to the U. S. Supreme Court, December term, 1852, original No. 3, pp. 200-208; also published in U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 226, pp. 56-59.

missioners proceeded to complete the running of the line. In their report they say with reference to the initial point of their survey:

34

That we, not being able to find any stake or other monument which we could imagine set up by Woodward and Saffrey, but considering that the place thereof was described in the agreement mentioned in our commission, by certain invariable marks, we did proceed as followeth, namely: We found a place where Charles River formed a large current southerly, which place is known to many by the name of Poppatolish Pond, which we took to be the southernmost part of said river, from the southernmost part of which we measured three English miles south, which three English miles did terminate upon a plain in a township called Wrentham..

From this time forward repeated steps were taken by Rhode Island, by resolutions and by appointment of commissioners, to ascertain and run the line in connection with commissioners from Massachusetts. Commissioners from both colonies met more than once, but they failed to agree upon a boundary in place of that established under the agreements of 1711 and 1718. As a ground for these efforts Rhode Island alleged that a mistake had been made by her commissioners in commencing the line at the accepted position of the Woodward and Saffrey stake, which, as set on Wrentham Plain, at Burnt Swamp Corner, was considerably more than 3 miles south of the Charles River.35

This controversy, however, embraced the entire line from the State of Connecticut to the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts asserted that an encroachment had been made on her territory from Burnt Swamp Corner to the ocean by Rhode Island, who, on her part, claimed that the jurisdictional line of Massachusetts from that corner to the Connecticut line was, in its whole extent, upon the territory of Rhode Island. The legislatures of the respective States having failed after repeated efforts to adjust the controversy, Rhode Island in 1832, by a bill in equity, brought the subject of the northern boundary from Burnt Swamp Corner to the Connecticut line before the Supreme Court of the United States, which in 1846 decided that the jurisdictional line claimed by Massachusetts was the legal boundary of the two States between these points.

While this suit was pending an attempt was made to settle the long controversy by an amicable adjustment of the whole line from the Connecticut corner to the ocean. Commissioners were appointed by both States in 1844 to ascertain and mark the true boundary from Pawtucket Falls (presumably near the present city of Pawtucket) south to Bullock Neck. In 1845 the same commissioners were authorized to ascertain the entire line from Burnt Swamp Corner to the Atlantic Ocean.

344 Howard 632. 35 14 Peters 273.