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In 1609 a new charter was granted, called the "second charter " of Virginia, which defines the boundaries in the following terms 66 (see fig. 10):

situate, lying, and being in that part of America, called Virginia, from the point of Land, called Cape or Point Comfort, all along the Sea Coast to the Northward, two hundred miles, and from the said point of Cape Comfort, all along the Sea Coast to the Southward, two hundred Miles, and all that Space and Circuit of Land, lying from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land, throughout from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest; And also all the Islands lying within one hundred Miles along the Coast of both Seas of the Precinct aforesaid.

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In 1611-12 the "third charter" of Virginia was granted, which was an enlargement of the second. It gave the following territory: all and singular those Islands whatsoever, situate and being in any Part of the Ocean Seas bordering upon the Coast of our said first Colony in Virginia, and being within three Hundred Leagues of any of the Parts heretofore granted to the said Treasurer and Company in our former Letters Patent as aforesaid, and being within or between the one-and-fortieth and thirtieth Degrees of Northerly Latitude.

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The charter of 1609 gave Virginia a strip of land bordering on the coast for 200 miles northward from Point Comfort and for the same distance southward and extending inland west and northwest to the South Sea. A point 200 miles due north of Point Comfort would fall in latitude 39° 54′, or about 13 miles north of the present south boundary of Pennsylvania. An irregular line 200 miles long, measured along the coast from Point Comfort, would reach about as far north as the Pennsylvania boundary. A point 200 miles due south from Point Comfort would fall in latitude 34° 06′. The territory included within these boundaries comprised, wholly or in part, the present States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina and the vast region stretching west and northwest to the Pacific Ocean.

The area covered by the charter of 1611-12 included the Bermuda Islands.

In 1625 the colony was changed to a royal province, the three charters having been canceled by judgment of the Court of Kings Bench in the preceding year, but Virginia still claimed the boundaries fixed by the charters.

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The description" west and northwest " left the northern boundary of the colony poorly defined, but it was more definitely fixed when reductions in area were made by the charters to Maryland in 1632 and to Pennsylvania in 1681. The Connecticut charter of 1662 pracee Thorpe, F. N., op. cit., vol. 7, p. 3795.

7 Idem, p. 3804.

68 Mar del Sur (South Sea) was the name given to the Pacific Ocean by Balboa in 1513, when he first saw it at a place where the shore line runs nearly east and west.

* Donaldson, Thomas, op. cit., p. 33.

tically made the parallel of 41° the northern boundary. (See p. 102.) The charters of Carolina in 1663 and 1665 changed the southern boundary to its present statute position.

The area of Virginia was still further reduced by the French treaty of 1763, which made the Mississippi River the west boundary, by the cession to the United States of the territory northwest of the Ohio River in 1784, by the admission of Kentucky as an independent State in 1792, by the division in 1863 when the new State of West Virginia was created and admitted to the Union, and finally by the transfer of two counties to West Virginia in 1866. (See fig. 10.)

By the constitution of 1776 Virginia formally gave up all claim to the territory now appertaining to the neighboring States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as will be seen by the following extract:

The territories contained within the Charters erecting the Colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina are hereby ceded, released, and forever confirmed, to the people of these Colonies, respectively, with all the rights of property, jurisdiction, and government, and all the rights whatsoever, which might at any time heretofore, have been claimed by Virginia, except the free navigation and use of the rivers Patomaque and Pokomoke, with the property of the Virginia shores and strands, bordering on either of said rivers, and all improvements, which have been or shall be made thereon. The western and northern extent of Virginia shall, in all other respects, stand as fixed by the charter of King James I, in the year one thousand six hundred and nine, and by the public treaty of peace between the Courts of Britain and France in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three; unless by act of this Legislature one or more governments be established westwards of the Alleghany mountains.

In the meantime grants of territory had been made within the present limits of Virginia and West Virginia, which caused great dissatisfaction to the people of the Virginia Colony and which ultimately had an important bearing in settling the divisional line between Maryland and Virginia.

In the twenty-first year of Charles II (1670) a grant was made to Lord Hopton and others of what is still called "the northern neck of Virginia," which was sold by the other patentees to Lord Culpeper and confirmed to him by letters patent in the fourth year of James II (1689). This grant carried with it nothing but the right of soil and incidents of ownership, it being expressly subjected to the jurisdiction of the Government of Virginia. The tract of land thereby granted was "bounded by and within the heads of the rivers Tappahannock, alias Rappahannock, and Quiriough, alias Potowmack.” On the death of Lord Culpeper this proprietary tract descended to Lord Fairfax, who had married Lord Culpeper's only daughter.

As early as 1729 difficulties arose from conflicting grants made by Lord Fairfax and the Crown. In 1730 Virginia petitioned the King, reciting that the head springs of Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers

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were not known and praying that such measures might be taken that they might be ascertained to the satisfaction of all parties. In 1733 Lord Fairfax made a similar petition, asking that a commission might be appointed to ascertain, survey, and mark the true boundaries of his grant. An order was accordingly issued, and in 1736 three commissioners were appointed on the part of the Crown and three on the part of Lord Fairfax. The duty that devolved upon these commissioners was to ascertain by actual examination and survey the respective fountains of Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers. This survey was made in 1736. The report of the commissioners was referred to the council for plantation affairs in 1738, who reported their decision as follows:

* The said boundary ought to begin at the first spring of the south branch of the river Rappahannock, and that the said boundary be from thence drawn in a straight line northwest to the place in the Alleghany Mountains where that part of the Potomac River, which is now called Cohongoroota, first rises. * * *

This report was confirmed by the King, and other commissioners were appointed to run out and mark the dividing line. The line was run in 1746. On October 17, 1746, the commissioners planted the Fairfax Stone at the spot which had been described and marked by the preceding commissioners as the true head spring of the Potomac and which, notwithstanding much controversy, has continued to be so regarded from that period to the present time. Besides limiting the Fairfax tract, this location was of greater importance as marking the southern point of the western boundary of Maryland.

A description of the original Fairfax Stone, as it appeared in 1859, was given in a report by Lieutenant Michler, as follows:

It consists of a rough piece of sandstone, indifferent and friable, planted to the depth of a few feet in the ground and rising a foot or more above the surface; shapeless in form, it would scarce attract the attention of the passer by. The finding of it was without difficulty, and its recognition and identification by the inscription now almost obliterated by the corroding action of water and air.

When the commissioners for the Maryland-West Virginia boundary visited this locality in 1910 no trace of the original mark was found, although the mark set by Lieutenant Michler was readily identified. A large concrete monument was then built at this point." As stated on page 131, these commissioners placed the monument marking the southwest corner of Maryland on the south bank of the North Branch of the Potomac, nearly 4,000 feet north of the Fairfax Stone.

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70 For report of the commissioners, with description and position of each of the 34 monuments, see 225 U. S. 2-30. For references concerning Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia boundaries see 217 U. S. 1-47.

This tract of land was held by Lord Fairfax and his descendants for many years, but subsequent to the Revolution the quitrents and similar charges were abolished, and it became in all respects subject to the jurisdiction of Virginia.

For the history and description of the boundary line between Virginia and Maryland see pages 127-131, and for the line between Virginia and West Virginia see page 145.

Kentucky formed originally a part of the county of Fincastle, Va. In 1776 this county was divided into three counties, the westernmost of which was called Kentucky County, and its eastern boundary was declared to be as follows: 71

A line beginning on the Ohio, at the mouth of Great Sandy Creek, and running up the same and the main or northeasterly branch thereof to the Great Laurel Ridge or Cumberland Mountains; thence southwesterly along the said mountain to the line of North Carolina.

Kentucky having been admitted into the Union June 1, 1792, commissioners were appointed in 1798 by Virginia and Kentucky to fix the boundary. In 1799-1800 the commissioners' report was made and ratified by the States. It was as follows:

To begin at the point where the Carolina, now Tennessee, line crosses the top of the Cumberland mountains, near Cumberland Gap, thence northeastwardly along the top or highest part of the said Cumberland mountain, keeping between the headwaters of Cumberland and Kentucky rivers, on the west side thereof, and the headwaters of Powell's and Guest's rivers, and the Pound fork of Sandy, on the east side thereof, continuing along the said top, or highest part of said mountain, crossing the road leading over the same at the Little Paint Gap, where by some it is called the Hollow mountain and where it terminates at the West Fork of Sandy, commonly called Russell's fork, thence with a line to be run north 45° east till it intersects the other great principal branch of Sandy, commonly called the northeastwardly branch, thence down the said northeastwardly branch to its junction with the main west branch and down Main Sandy to its confluence with the Ohio.”

It will be seen that the northern part of this line is the present line between West Virginia and Kentucky.

In 1918 the Virginia Legislature 73 authorized the resurvey and marking of the part of the Kentucky line from Russell Fork to the West Virginia line, but Kentucky has not yet (1929) made any provision for this work.

The exact location of the boundary along "Great Sandy Creek" and its "northeasterly branch" (now called Big Sandy River and Tug Fork) is somewhat in doubt. The best evidence as to its proper position thus far found is that indicated on Bishop James Madison's map of Virginia, dated 1807, where it is shown as on the west bank

71 Hening, W. W., Virginia Stat. L., vol. 9, p. 257, 1821.
72 Shephard, Samuel, Virginia Stat. L., vol. 2, p. 234.
78 Virginia Laws of 1918, ch. 386.

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