d R E EN E French Broad River E ليا S -35°50' WASHINGTON M ADISON BOUNDARY BETWEEN NORTH CAROLINA AND TENNESSEE. ว N n charter of King Charles, are the right and property of this State." But it appears from the operations of the United States Coast Survey at both ends of the line that the point of beginning on Currituck Inlet, instead of being, as so constantly assumed, in latitude 36° 30', or as determined by the surveyors in 1728, 36° 31′ is 36° 33′ 15′′, and the western end (of "the Walker line," of 1779, at Bristol, Tenn.) 36° 34′ 25.5". It is stated in Byrd's Journal that the variation of the compass was ascertained to be a little less than 30 W. [The magnetic chart of the United States Coast Survey would make it 3° E.] And no account is given of any subsequent correction, and if none was made at the end of the line surveyed by him the course would have been in error by nearly 30, as the amount of variation in this State changes a little more than 1o for every 100 miles of easting or westing. So that the northern boundary of the State as run is not only not the parallel of 36° 30′, but is far from coincident with any parallel of latitude, and must be a succession of curves, with their concavities northward and connected at their ends by north and south offsets. The southern boundary between this State and South Carolina and Georgia was first established by a joint colonial commission in 1735 to 1746. The commissioners run a line from Goat Island on the coast (in latitude 33° 56′ as supposed) NW to the parallel of 35°, according to their observations, and then due west to within a few miles of the Catawba River, and here, at the old Salisbury and Charleston road, turned north along that road to the southeast corner of the Catawba Indian Lands. This line, resurveyed in 1764, was afterwards (in 1772) continued along the eastern and northern boundaries of the Catawba lands to the point where the latter intersects the Catawba River; thence along and up that river to the mouth of the South Fork of the Catawba, and thence due west, as supposed, to a point near the Blue Ridge. This part of the line was resurveyed and confirmed by commissioners under acts of assembly of 1803, 1804, 1806, 1813, 1814, and 1815, and continued west to and along the Saluda Mountains and the Blue Ridge to the intersection of the "Cherokee boundary" of 1797, and thence in a direct line to the Chatooga River at its intersection with the parallel of 35°. From this point the line was run west to the Tennessee line, between this State and Georgia, in 1807, and confirmed and established by act of 1819. The boundary between this State and Tennessee was run, according to the course designated in the act of 1789, entitled "An act for the purpose of ceding to the United States certain western lands therein described" (the State of Tennessee); that is, along the crest of the Smoky Mountains, from the Virginia line to the Cataluche River (in Haywood County), in 1799, under act of 1796. It was continued from this point to the Georgia line in 1821. The commissioners who completed this line, at the date lastmentioned, instead of following their instructions, diverged from the crest of the Smoky (Unaka) Mountains at the intersection of the Hiwassee turnpike, and run due south to the Georgia line, thereby losing for the State the valuable mining region since known as Ducktown. And as to the southern boundary, the point of beginning on Goat Island is in latitude 33° 51′ 37′′, as shown by the Coast Survey, and instead of running from Goat Island northwest to latitude of 35° and thence along that parallel, it appears, from the South Carolina Geographical State Survey of 1821–25, that the course from the starting point is N. 47° 30' W., and instead of pursuing the parallel of 35° it turns west about 10 miles south of that line, and then on approaching the Catawba River, turns northward pursuing a zigzag line to the forks of the Catawba River, which is about 12 miles north of that parallel; and from this point to the mountains the boundary line (of 1772) runs, not west, but N. 88° W., bringing its western end about 17 miles too far north, and reaching the (supposed) parallel of 35° at a distance of about 130 miles east of the Catawba River. The loss of territory resulting from these singular deviations is probably between 500 and 1,000 square miles. The following extract from the constitution of 1796, of Tennessee, |