Government was asked to detail officers of engineers to act with said. commissioners in surveying and fixing the line. Until their reportis at hand the boundary can only be found by following the old county lines. In view of the expectation of such report at an early day, it has not been thought best to go into an examination of the old county lines. WEST VIRGINIA. This State was set off from Virginia on December 31, 1862. It was originally formed of those counties of Virginia which had refused to join in the secession movement. It was admitted to the Union as a separate State June 19, 1863. It originally contained the following counties: Barbour, Boone, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Lewis, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Pendleton, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Wayne, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, Wood, Wyoming. In 1866 it was enlarged by the two counties of Berkeley and Jefferson, transferred from Virginia. Its boundary with Virginia is made up of boundary lines of the border counties above enumerated, and can be defined only by reference to the laws by which these counties were created. In the constitution of 1872, after a recapitulation of the counties which were transferred from Virginia to West Virginia, is found the following clause defining the boundaries upon the south and west. The State of West Virginia includes the bed, bank, and shores of the Ohio River and so much of the Big Sandy River as was formerly included in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and all territorial rights and property in and jurisdiction over the same heretofore reserved by and vested in the Commonwealth of Virginia are vested in and shall hereafter be exercised by the State of West Virginia, and such parts of the said beds, banks, and shores as lie opposite and adjoining the several counties of this State shall form parts of said several counties respectively. (For a history of the boundaries of West Virginia, vide Pennsylvania, p. 86; Maryland, p. 89; Virginia, p. 96.) NORTH CAROLINA. In the year 1663 the first charter of Carolina" was granted, which, two years later, in 1665, was enlarged by the "second charter of Carolina." The following extracts from these two charters define the boundaries: Charter of Carolina, 1663. **All that territory or tract of ground, scituate, lying and being within our dominions of America, extending from the north end of the island called Lucke Island, which lieth in the southern Virginia seas, and within six and thirty degrees of the northern latitude, and to the west as far as the south seas, and so southerly as far as the river Saint Matthias, which bordereth on the coast of Florida, and within one and thirty degrees of northern latitude, and so west in a direct line as far as the south seas aforesaid. * * * Charter of Carolina, 1665. * * * All that province, territory, or tract of land, scituate, lying or being in our dominions of America, aforesaid, extending north and eastward as far as the north end of Currituck River, or inlet, upon a strait westerly line to Wyonoke Creek, which lies within or about the degrees of thirty-six and thirty minutes, northern latitude, and so west in a direct line as far as the south seas. * * * This is an extension of the charter of 1663, by which its northern boundary was removed from the approximate latitude of 36 to 36-30', on which parallel it is now approximately established. Although the exact year in which the division of the province of Carolina into the two provinces of North and South Carolina appears somewhat uncertain, I find it generally put down as 1729. The division line between the two provinces, North and South Carolina, appears to have been established by mutual agreement. In the constitution of North Carolina of 1776 this line is defined as shown in the subjoined extract: The property of the soil, in a free government, being one of the essential rights of the collective body of the people, it is necessary, in order to avoid future disputes, that the limits of the State should be ascertained with precision; and as the former temporary line between North and South Carolina was confirmed and extended by commissioners appointed, by the legislatures of the two States, agreeable to the order of the late King George II in council, that line, and that only, should be esteemed the southern boundary of this State; that is to say, beginning on the sea side at a cedar stake, at or near the mouth of Little River (being the southern extremity of Brunswic County), and running from thence a northwest course through the boundary house, which stands in thirty-three degrees fifty-six minutes, to thirty-five degrees north latitude, and from thence a west course so far as is mentioned in the charter of King Charles II to the late proprietors of Carolina. Therefore, all the territory, seas, waters, and harbours, with their appurtenances, lying between the line above described, and the southern line of the State of Virginia, which begins on the sea shore, in thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, and from thence runs west, agreeable to the said charter of King Charles, are the right and property of the people of the State, to be held by them in sovereignty, any partial line, without the consent of the legislature of this State, at any time thereafter directed or laid out in anywise notwithstanding. On December 2, 1789, the legislature passed an act ceding to the United States its western lands, now constituting the State of Tennessee. On February 25, 1790, the deed was offered, and on April 2 of the same year it was accepted by the United States. In the Revised Statutes the north and south boundaries of the State are claimed to be as follows: The northern boundary, the parallel of 36 30'; the southern boundary, a line running northwest from Goat Island on the coast in latitude 33 56′ to the parallel of 35°, and thence along that parallel to Tennessee; while the western boundary is the Smoky Mountains. It is strange that the Revised Statutes should contain such a statement of the boundary lines when it is thoroughly well known that it is incorrect, especially as regards the southern boundary. In the case of the northern boundary the intention has been from the earliest colonial times down to the present to establish a line upon the parallel of 36°30'. This is found to be the wording of every legislative act relating to it, and the errors of this boundary are due simply to errors in surveying and location. The following brief and comprehensive sketch of the north and south boundary lines of this State, and of the various attempts made to locate them, is taken from Professor Kerr's "Geology of North Carolina," Vol. I, page 2: “The first and only serious attempt to ascertain the northern boundary was that made in 1728, by Col. Wm. Byrd, and others, commissioners on the part of the two colonies, acting under royal authority. From the account given by Byrd of this undertaking, it appears that they started from a point on the coast whose position they determined by observation to be in 36° 31′, north latitude, and ran due west (correcting for the variation of the compass), to Nottoway River, where they made an offset of a half mile to the mouth of that stream, again running west. The line was run and marked 242 miles from the coast, to a point in Stokes County, on the upper waters of the Dan River (on Peter's Creek) the North Carolina commissioners accompanying the party only about two-thirds of the distance. Beyond this point, the line was carried some 90 miles by another joint commission of the two colonies in 1749; this survey, terminating at Steep Rock Creek, on the east of Stone Mountain, and near the present northwest corner of the State, was estimated to be 329 miles from the coast. In 1779 the line was taken up again at a point on Steep Rock Creek, determined by observation to be on the parallel of 36° 30′ (the marks of the previous survey having disappeared entirely), and carried west to and beyond Bristol, TenThis last is known as the Walker line, from one of the commissioners of nessee. Virginia. These lines were run and the latitude observations taken with very imperfect instruments, and the variation of the compass was little understood, so that it was not possible to trace a parallel of latitude. The line, besides, was only marked on the trees and soon disappeared, and as the settlements were very scattered the location soon became a matter of vague tradition and presently of contention and litigation, so that in 1858, at the instance of Virginia, commissioners were appointed to relocate the line from the end of the Byrd survey westward, but for some reason they did not act. In 1870 commissioners were again appointed by Virginia and similar action asked on the part of this State; and the proposition was renewed in 1871, but ineffectually, as before. In all these numerous attempts to establish the line of division between the two colonies and States, the intention and the specific. instructions have been to ascertain and mark, as the boundary of the two States, the parallel of 36° 30'. The maps published towards the end of last century by Jefferson and others give that parallel as the line, and the bill of rights of North Carolina claims that "all the territory lying between the line above described (the line between North and South Carolina) and the southern line of the State of Virginia, which begins on the seashore in 36° 30′ north latitude, and from thence runs west, agreeably to the 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 com |