THE BOUNDARY LINES OF THE STATES 57

MAINE 58

The first charter that related to the area forming the present State of Maine (fig. 4) was that granted by Henry IV of France to Pierre du Gast, Sieur de Monts, in 1603, known as the charter of Acadia; it embraced the whole of North America between the 40th and 46th degrees of north latitude. Under this charter several exploring expeditions along the coast were made in 1604, 1605, and 1606 (see pl. 1); and in 1606 it was decided to make a permanent settlement at Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia. No attempts were made under this charter to plant colonies within the limits of the present State of Maine.

By the first charter of Virginia (see p. 143), granted by James I in 1606, the lands along the coast of North America between the 34th and 45th degrees of north latitude were given to two companies, to one of which, the Plymouth Company, was assigned that part of North America including the coast of New England. The first colony in Maine was planted on the peninsula of Sabino, at the mouth of the Kennebec River, now Hunnewell Point, on August 19, 1607, by George Popham. The colonists returned to England in the autumn of 1608.

James I, in 1620, granted a charter to the Plymouth Company, in which may be found the following words (Thrope, 1909, v. 6, p. 1829):

Wee therefore, *** Do * grant, ordaine and establish, that all that Circuit, Continent, Precincts, and Limitts in America, lying and being in Breadth from Fourty Degrees of Northerly Latitude, from the Equnoctiall Line, to Forty-eight Degrees of the said Northerly Latitude, and in length by all the Breadth aforesaid throughout the Maine Land, from Sea to Sea, with all the Seas, Rivers, Islands, Creekes, Inletts, Ports, and Havens, within the Degrees, Precincts, and Limitts of the said Latitude and Longitude, shall be the Limitts, and Bounds, and Precints of the second Collony: And to the End that the said Territoryes may forever hereafter be more particularly and certainly known and distinguished, our Will and Pleasure is, that the same shall from henceforth be nominated, termed, and called by the Name of New-England, in America.

William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, claimed that under a grant given in 1621 he was entitled to land on the coast of Maine which had been granted to the Plymouth Company, and by direction of James I

57 For a condensed historical description of the boundaries of the United States, see Encyclopedia Americana (1920, v. 4, p. 329–342). This article contains a bibliography on boundaries comprising several hundred entries.

58 A general discussion of the boundaries of the New England States is given by Cushing (1920). For reference to early voyages of the Northmen to Iceland, Greenland, and the New England coast about the year 1000, see Preble (1917, p. 160–167); Kohl (1869, v. 1, chap. 2); Gray (1931).

that company issued a patent to him (Thorpe, 1909, v. 6, p. 1621) for a tract of the maineland of New England, beginning at Saint Croix and from thence extending along the sea-coast to Pemaquid and the river Kennebeck. The heirs of the Earl of Stirling sold that tract to the Duke of York in 1663.

In 1622 Capt. John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges obtained from the council of New England (Plymouth) a grant of lands lying between the Merrimack and Sagadahock (Kennebec) Rivers and extending back to the river and lakes of Canada. This tract was named the Province of Maine and included New Hampshire and the western part of Maine. Mason and Gorges, in 1629, by mutual consent divided their territory in two by Piscataqua River. That part east of this river was relinquished to Gorges, who called it Maine.

The charter of the Plymouth Company was surrendered to the King in the year 1635.

King Charles I, in 1639, granted a charter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges which virtually confirmed the patent given to him by the Plymouth Company in 1622. The following extract from that charter (Thorpe, 1909, v. 6, p. 1626) defines the boundaries:

All that Parte Purparte and Porcon of the Mayne Lande of New England aforesaid beginning att the entrance of Pascataway Harbor and soe to passe upp the same into the River of Newichewanocke and through the same unto the furthest heade thereof and from thence Northwestwards till one hundred and twenty miles bee finished and from Pascataway Harbor mouth aforesaid Northeastwards along the Sea Coasts to Sagadahocke and upp the River thereof to Kynybequy River and through the same into the heade thereof and into the Lande Northwestwards untill one hundred and twenty myles bee ended being accompted from the mouth of Sagadahocke and from the period of one hundred and twenty myles aforesaid to crosse over Lande to the one hundred and twenty myles end formerly reckoned upp into the Lande from Pascataway Harbor through Newichewanocke River and also the Northe halfe of the Isles of Shoales togeather with the Isles of Capawock and Nawtican neere Cape Cod as alsoe all the Islands and Iletts lyeinge within five leagues of the Mayne all alonge the aforesaide Coasts betweene the aforesaid River of Pascataway and Sagadahocke with all the Creekes Havens and Harbors thereunto belonginge and the Revercon and Revercons Remaynder and Remaynders of all and singular the said Landes Rivers and Premises. All which said Part Purpart or Porcon of the Mayne Lande and all and every the Premisses herein before named Wee Doe for us our heires and successors create and incorporate into One Province or Countie.

And Wee Doe name ordeyne and appoynt that the porcon of the Mayne Lande and Premises aforesaid shall forever hereafter bee called and named The Province or Countie of Mayne

In 1664 Charles II granted certain islands on the coast and a large territory west of the Connecticut River (see New York, p. 113, for the boundaries) to the Duke of York, who had the preceding year pur

chased a part of the present State of Maine from the heirs of the Earl of Stirling; the 1663 purchase was for a time called Pemaquid.

In 1674 Charles II made a new grant to the Duke of York in substantially the same terms as that of 1664, including as before a part of Maine. (See New York, p. 113.)

In the year 1677 Ferdinando Gorges, a grandson of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, sold and gave a deed of the Province of Maine to John Ushur, a merchant of Boston, for £1,250. In the same year Ushur gave a deed of the same territory to the governor and company of Massachusetts Bay, who had received a grant from the council of Plymouth in 1628, confirmed by the King in 1629.

Pemaquid and its dependencies, forming Cornwall County, under the jurisdiction of New York, were annexed to the New England government by a royal order dated September 19, 1686.

Soc., 1857, v. 5, p. 4.)

(Maine Hist.

The charter of Massachusetts Bay of 1629 having been canceled in 1684, William and Mary in 1691 granted a new one incorporating the Provinces of Maine and Acadia, or Nova Scotia, and the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth into one royal Province by the name of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. The right of government over the district of Maine thus acquired was exercised by Massachusetts until 1819, when measures were taken to admit Maine as an independent State; 5o Congress, by act approved March 3, 1820 (3 Stat. L. 544), effective March 15, 1820, admitted Maine to the Union. The north and east boundaries were fixed by the United States and Great Britain. (See p. 14, 16, 25-28.) The geographic position of the extreme north point of Maine, which falls in the middle of the St. Francis River, is lat 47°27′35.8'' N., long 69°13′30.4′′ W.

59

The western boundary was for a long time a source of contention between Maine and New Hampshire. In 1731 commissioners from New Hampshire and from Massachusetts, who had been appointed to fix the boundary, met but were unable to agree. New Hampshire appealed to the King, who ordered that a settlement should be made by commissioners from the neighboring Provinces. The board met at Hampton in 1737. The commissioners fixed on substantially the present boundary, wording their report as follows (New Hampshire Hist. Soc., 1827, v. 2, p. 274-278):

Beginning at the entrance of Pascataqua Harbor, and so to pass up the same to the River Newhichawack, and thro' the same into the furtherest head thereof, and thence run north 2 degrees west till 120 miles were finished, from the mouth of Pascataqua Harbor, or until it meets with His Majesty's other governments. This boundary was confirmed by the King, August 5, 1740.

See Massachusetts Legislature Acts of June 19, 1819, and Feb. 25, 1820.

In 1827, difficulties having again risen about the boundary between Maine and New Hampshire, commissioners were appointed from each State to determine it. The line agreed to by the commissioners in their report, dated November 13, 1828, is described in "Resolves of the Ninth Legislature" (1828-29) of Maine (p. 39-43) as follows:

The Report of the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty's order in Council of February 22nd, 1735, and confirmed by his order of the 5th of August, 1740, having established,

"That the dividing line shall pass up through the mouth of Piscataqua Harbor, and up the middle of the river of Newichwannock, part of which is now called the Salmon falls, and through the middle of the same to the farthest head thereof, &c.," and "that the dividing line shall part the Isle of Sholes, and run through the middle of the Harbor, between the Islands to the sea on the southerly side," &c. We have not deemed it necessary to commence our survey until we arrived north, at the head of Salmon falls river; which was determined by Bryant, at his survey in 1740, to be at the outlet of Eastpond, between the towns of Wakefield and Shapleigh. From that point we have surveyed and marked the line as follows, viz: We commenced at the Bryant rock, known as such by tradition, which is a rock in the middle of Salmon falls river, at the outlet of Eastpond, about six feet in length, three feet in breadth, three feet in depth. and two feet under the surface of the water, as the dam was at the time of the survey, to wit, October 1, 1827; said stone bears south 71° west, three rods and eight links from a large rock on the eastern bank, marked "1827," and bears also from a rock near the mill dam (marked "H") north 19°30′ west, and distant 12 rods and 21 links. At this point the variation of the needle was ascertained to be nine degrees west. From the above stone the line is north 7°41′ east, 178 rods to Eastpond, and crossing the pond 311 rods in width, to a stone Monument which we erected up on the bank, about three and an half feet high above the surface of the ground, marked N on the west side and M on the east side, which description applies to all the stone monuments hereinafter mentioned, unless they are otherwise particularly described: thence the same course, 225 rods, to Fox ridge and to a stone monument, which is placed upon the north side of the road that leads from Wakefield to Shapleigh; thence 200 rods to Balch's pond-across the pond, 1031⁄2 rods-across a peninusla 36 rods across a cove 51 rods and 17 links, across a second peninsula, 48 rods; across a second cove, 27 rods 10 links; thence 370 rods to the road leading from Newfield to Wakefield and a stone monument, erected on the north side of the same, near Campernell's house; thence north 6°10' east, 590 rods, to the line of Parsonfield, to a stone monument with additional mark "1828." At this point the variation of the needle was found to be 9°15' west. Thence same course 511 rods, crossing the end of Province pond to a stone monument on the Parsonfield road, near the house of James Andrews, also with additional mark "1828;" thence north 8°38′ east, 208 rods to the old corner-stone of Effingham, about two feet above the ground, and not marked; thence north 8°55′ east, 277 rods, to a large round stone about three feet diameter and two feet high, marked N and M, by the road upon Towle's Hill; thence north 7°55′ east, 631 rods to a stone monument, on the road leading from Parsonfield to Effingham. At this point the variation of the needle was found to be 9°30' west; thence north 5°02' east, 734 rods to a pine stump, upon a small island in Ossipee river at the foot of the falls; thence north 10° east, 30 rods, to a stone monument on the north side of the new road from Porter to Effingham; thence the same course, 558 rods, to the

top of Bald Mountain; thence same course, 316 rods, to the top of Bickford Mountain; thence same course 193 rods, to a stone monument on the north side of the road leading from Porter to Eaton. At this point the variation of the needle was found to be 9°45' west; thence north 8°5′ east, 744 rods, to Cragged Mountain; thence same course, 67 rods, to the corner of Eaton; thence same course, 7871⁄2 rods, to the corner of Conway; thence same course, 6101⁄2 rods to a stone monument on the south side of the road leading from Brownfield to Conway centre; thence north 8° east, 871 rods, to a stone monument on the south side of the road leading from Fryeburg village to Conway-at this point the variation of the needle was found to be 10° west; thence same course, 4 rods, to a stone monument on the north side of the same road; thence north 8°15′ east, 102 rods, to Saco river; thence same course 18 rods, across said river; thence same course 644 rods to a stone monument on the road leading to Fryeburg village, on the north side of the river. This monument is marked bas before described and is about eight feet high above the ground; thence same course 142 rods to Ballard's Mill Pond; thence same course 61 rods six links across said pond; thence same course 344 rods to a stone monument on the east side of Chatham road; thence same course 690 rods to Kimball's Pond; thence same course 166 rods across said pond; thence same course 60 rods to a stone monument on the meadow.

From Kimballs Pond the line was extended northward for about 77 miles on a general course which has since been found to bear about 2° west of true north. The last mark on the line was a large yellowbirch tree on the divide between the St. Lawrence River and the rivers running south. The total distance, as measured, from this tree to Salmon River Falls was 112 miles 233 rods.

The Legislature of Maine approved the commissioners' report February 28, 1829, and the same action was taken by the Legislature of New Hampshire July 1, 1829.

Between 1828 and 1858 considerable parts of the almost unbroken forests through which the line of 1827-28 was run were cleared. Forest fires swept many large tracts of this territory, and as a consequence the marks of the 1827-28 survey for distance of nearly 80 miles-most of which were blazed trees, only seven stone posts having been set in this distance were obliterated, so that there remained scarcely a vestige of the original line. The adjoining lands having become valuable and litigation being imminent, the legislatures of the two States in 1858 provided for another survey from Fryeburg to the Canada line, which was made in the same year. The line as then surveyed is as follows:

The point commenced at is an iron post situated on the line run in accordance with the "Treaty of Washington, of August 9, 1842," as the boundary between the United States and the province of Canada, at the corners of the States of Maine and New Hampshire.

A large flat stone was placed on the southern face of the monument, and marked "1858-N. H., Me.," on either side of a line cut in said stone bearing the direction of the State's line, viz, south, eight degrees west. From this point the line is south eight degrees west, seventeen rods seven links to a large yellow birch stub, the northern terminus of the former survey.