Maryanne Botta, aged 10, of Allentown, PA her question:

Does the Mason Dixon line reach across the United States?

The original plan was to survey a, boundary line as far crest as the Mississippi river. But Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon got no further than thirty miles west of Maryland, there they ran into Indian trouble.

The purpose of the survey had been to settle the borderline between

Pennsylvania and Maryland. It seemed unnecessary to risk Inndian quarrels by taking it any further.

Border disputes among the colonists arose over a forty mile strip of territory. To the north it was claimed by the settlers of William Penn. To the south, by the settlers of Lord Baltimore. Little Delaware had already argued and won a degree of independence from Pennsylvania. Though both Penn and Lord Baltimore wanted the little strip of land which was to become Delaware, they were too honorable to fight about it.But serious arguments concerning the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland did go on for over eighty years. Finally the two colonies agreed to settle the matter peaceably once and for all. A survey was ordered from certain points which would settle the matter.

You can figure out the famous boundary line for yourself. Find a map of the eastern states that you may mark up. An old road map will do.  You will need pencil, compass and ruler. Now on the map find Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, New Castle at the mouth of the Delaware River and Philadelphia.

Measure twelve miles on the mileage scale of your map. Take that distance to be a radius on your compass. Set the point of the compass at New Castle, Delaware and draw a circle. Now mark off fifteen miles on the mileage scale of your map. Measure this distance due south from Philadelphia. Extend the point to form a line running due east and west.

Now find Cape elopen on Delaware Bay. Draw a straight line due west until you reach Chesapeake Bay. Divide this line it two and put a match in the middle. Now draw a straight line from this mark due north until you reach the twelve mile circle around New Castle. You are now at the eastern border between Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Continue due north until you reach the line 15 miles south of Philadelphia. Now take your bearings and make a line running due west. You have made a map of the Mason and Dixon line. Continue going until you are 30 miles west of Maryland. This is where the survey came to a halt.

This is no easy job, even on a modern map. It was harder still for the men originally asked to do the surveying on land in 1760. Three years later, everyone was bored with their slowness. They were dismissed from the job. Two mathematicians, Mason and Dixon took over. In four years they had gone as far as they could. They marked their famous boundary with stones. On the southern side, each stone bore the arms of Lord Baltimore, on its northern face, the family crest of William Penn.