RAY HARBAUGH DELIVERED AN INFORMATIVE MASON-DIXON LINE LECTURE AT THE WAYNESBORO THEATRE
By Robb Helfrick
The Waynesboro Industrial Museum hosted a March 31 talk by Ray Harbaugh on the Mason-Dixon Line. The well-attended event was held at the Waynesboro Theatre. After President Brian Shook made a few announcements, he introduced Harbaugh, a retired engineer who earned a degree in surveying from Penn State University.
Harbaugh, a lifelong resident of Waynesboro, has explored the story of the two celebrated men who surveyed the famous line that now marks the boundary of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
“My research has given me greater insight into the historical significance of the Mason-Dixon Line,” Harbaugh said as he began his presentation. He noted that most Waynesboro residents had likely crossed the famous boundary thousands of times. But that line had many fascinating details that went beyond its Civil War-oriented demarcation of North and South.
“Where were you on July 20, 1969?” Harbaugh asked the audience. He mentioned that it was the date of the historic moon landing achieved by NASA and American astronauts. Harbaugh explained the connection between the moon landing and Mason and Dixon’s work in the 1760s. “The moon landing took very skilled, competent men, working in hazardous conditions, guided by math and science, to achieve their goal.” Mason and Dixon had earlier duplicated that feat to create their own place in history, Harbaugh asserted. Their famous line was the moonshot of that era.
Harbaugh showed a map from 1632 that illustrated cutting-edge cartography from that period. However, the Maryland and Pennsylvania governments had a problem: their land grants, originating in England, were based on simplistic language. William Penn’s Pennsylvania and Lord Calvert’s Maryland claimed land in each other’s territory.
These overlapping claims caused great confusion, and ultimately, threats of violent conflict loomed. During an 81-year period, English courts issued multiple rulings on property ownership cases, but the colonial boundary dispute continued unresolved into the 1760s.
Penn and Calvert decided to hire a survey team to decide this contentious debate. They chose two Englishmen, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, well-respected surveyors, to complete the task. When the pair arrived in America, Cresap’s War had caused bloodshed between settlers and Native Americans. In a contested area of PA/MD, colonists threatened one another over property squabbles.
Harbaugh explained the importance of land rights during that period. When these competing states issued deeds to duplicate properties, tempers flared, and further violence seemed imminent.
However, as Mason and Dixon went to work in these trying conditions, Harbaugh said they possessed abundant talents for the task ahead. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were described as men of good character. Both men had strong mathematical and astronomy skills. “Mason was known to be painstakingly meticulous in his record keeping,” Harbaugh said. Mason would keep a daily chronicle as the duo surveyed the line. “Reading it puts you in their shoes while they were doing this work,” Harbaugh said about his research.
During his presentation, Harbaugh described the instruments that Mason and Dixon utilized to survey in the wilderness. One important piece was a Vertical Sector, a 6-foot-long telescope. “It was the cutting-edge technology of its day,” Harbaugh stated. It allowed the surveyors to observe the movement of stars and time the process to establish an accurate earthly location. This telescope was very sensitive and could fix locations down to 1/100th of a second of arc. “That’s a really tight measurement,” Harbaugh said. He displayed several antique surveying instruments during his presentation.
Harbaugh also described the stones that the surveyors placed on this famous line. Crown stones were set every five miles, complete with elaborate markings. “They’re quite ornamental,” Harbaugh said. Simpler markers, with “M” and “P” denoting Maryland/Pennsylvania sides, were placed every mile.
Today, many of those historic markers are still visible, and Harbaugh showed photographs of these iconic Mason-Dixon stones. Many are eroded by weather or affected by human impact (road salt is one culprit), but still mark their original spots.
Back in the 1760s era, Harbaugh laid out the scenario: “We have the men, we have the methods, and we have the math. We’re ready to draw the line.”
The surveying team was substantial- a crew of 30 to 105 men worked on the project. Life in the field was challenging. Wagons carted the sensitive surveying equipment on primitive roads or Indian paths. The large group of men had to move camp every few days, fording rivers and streams, while avoiding wild animals and skirmishes with Native Americans. “They were living off the land,” Harbaugh noted.
This team had cooks, hunters, men who cut down trees (to create a clear line of sight), teamsters, and the necessary surveyors and “chain men,” who marked off standard distances. “Where the trek was harder, they needed more people,” Harbaugh said about surveying work in remote mountain regions.
When Mason and Dixon arrived in the local area, South Mountain was the first major topographical feature on their trek westward. They denoted mile marker 100 in the area and spent time encamped near modern-day Edgemont Road.
Speaker Harbaugh mentioned a homestead near present-day Sabillisville. Only two miles from this location, Mason and Dixon were drawing the line that made that family Marylanders. The head of that household was Ray Harbaugh’s 4th Great Grandfather.
Harbaugh next showed a primitive map of the local area, created during the surveying work. Only one local road was marked, a wagon trail that passed through an area marked as “Mount Vernon.” That was the property owned by John Wallace, and later, that 633-acre settlement became known as Waynesboro.
After the Mason-Dixon party left the area, they moved slowly west toward the Allegheny Mountains. “The supply chain would be harder to maintain out west,” Harbaugh said. The rough topography wasn’t the only obstacle, as tensions with Native Americans rose higher in what is now western Pennsylvania.
Mason and Dixon completed their work in the American colonies in 1767, and both went home to England. Their final fee paid them 3516 pounds each ($1.4 million in today’s currency), far exceeding their original cost estimate of 600 pounds. This salary didn’t include additional costs for men, materials, and travel expenses. The duo spent 4 years and 10 months surveying a line that greatly influenced future generations.
Charles Mason became a widower while performing work in the colonies and returned home to his two sons. He later remarried and had 8 more children. He moved to Philadelphia in 1786 but died only a few months later at age 58. He is buried at historic Christ Church Cemetery.
Jeremiah Dixon remained a bachelor his entire life and became a wealthy man. He died at age 45 and was buried modestly in a Quaker cemetery. Later, Dixon’s name was thought to inspire the term “Dixie” for the American South.
While closing his thorough presentation, Harbaugh explained the impact of Mason and Dixon’s signature project. Maryland and Pennsylvania “now had clarity where this line was.” Maryland lost 4300 square miles of territory in the process.
This demarcation paved the way for the issue of trustworthy land deeds and the fair collection of property taxes. Later, the famous line would also mark a boundary between free and enslaved Americans.
With obvious admiration for this surveying duo, Harbaugh described their success. “This was an excellent achievement, given the quality of the equipment of the day and the severe working conditions.”
Today, stone remnants of Mason and Dixon’s deliberate and ground-breaking work remain, as historical testaments to men whose names will be forever linked.
