Having carefully considered the several Testimonies,
Computations, Maps and Draughts, laid before us, relating to the
Western Bounds of this Province, we do report,
That it appears to your Committee, by the
Testimony of Richard Peters, Secretary of this Province, and
Nicholas Scull, Surveyor-General, that the Temporary Line was run
in 1739, by B. Eastburn, then Surveyor-General, and other
Surveyors, on Oath, to the Kittochtinny Hills, about three Miles
West from Philip David’s Plantation, extending West from
Philadelphia (as measured on the Surface) 144 Miles.
And that the said Richard Peters, Esq; doth
aver, that he hath travelled from Aucquick to Philip David’s, and
made diligent Observations and Enquiry, and that to the best of his
Knowledge and Belief, the Place called The Three Springs, is rather
Eastward of the Meridian of the End of the Temporary Line, and
thirty Miles Northward of the End of said Line.
And that the several computed travelling
Distances from the Three Springs to Ohio, laid before the
Committee, are as follows, viz.
| Rays-town Road, to Shanopins, from said
Springs, |
|
148 |
| And the Franks-town Road from Ditto, |
151 |
| To which, the Length of the Temporary Line, |
144 |
| Which is short of the above Sum, |
Miles |
26 |
That all the several Accounts, which speak of
the Course of the Road, do agree, that it is very winding and
crooked in many Places, to avoid Creeks and Swamps, and very uneven
as it passes through a mountainous Country; and Pattin’s Map of the
Road, laid before us, makes it in a straight Line from the Three
Springs to Shanopins, but Eighty-three Miles; which Map, however,
we do not understand to have been made from actual Mensurations;
but by taking the Course from one known Mountain to another with a
Compass, and computing the Distance by the common Methods of
Estimation used by Travellers on Horse-back.
Andrew Montour and John Pattin say, that the
Road is very crooked, and that having, by the Governor’s Directions
(to said Pattin) observed the Courses and Distances with all the
Exactness in their Power, it cannot, in their Judgment, on a
straight Line, exceed Eighty-five Miles.
By which Estimation Sixty-two of the travelled
Miles are lost in the Crooks between the Three Springs and
Shanopins.
William West saith likewise, that the Road is
very crooked, and that in several Places travelling many Miles
produces but a few Miles Westing; particularly between the Shawana
Cabins and Kekinnypalins, computed near thirty Miles, he thinks
would not make more than ten Miles Westing.
William West farther saith, That an Observation
was made of the Latitude of Shanopins Town by Colonel Fry, who
found it to be in 40. 26. which is about Forty-one Miles North of
the Temporary Line.
Upon the Premises, your Committee would
observe,
1. That the computed Miles are, as estimated by
Travellers, who judge only from the Time taken up in Travelling,
and have never been measured; and that the Miles so computed on the
Road from the Three Springs to Shanopins, added to the measured
Length of the Temporary Line, make Twenty-six Miles more than the
Mathematicians say there are in five Degrees of Longitude at Lat.
40.
2. That the Temporary Line was measured on the
Surface of the Earth, up Hills and down Valleys, and therefore, an
horizontal Line of one Hundred and Forty-four Miles must extend
farther Westward; but how much, your Committee cannot take upon
them to say.
3. That the travelled Line from the Three
Springs to Shanopins is not only up Hill and down, through a more
mountainous Country, but is agreed by all to deviate much from a
straight Line to the Right and Left; and therefore, when drawn out
to a horizontal Line, must extend yet farther Westward, in
Proportion, than the Temporary Line.
Whether these Irregularities of both Lines,
taken all together, will not exceed the Difference of Twenty-six
Miles, must be submitted to the Judgment of the House.
And if, upon the Whole, Shanopins-town be
judged within the Limits of the Royal Grant to our Proprietary,
Weningo, which by the Testimony of Andrew Montour, lies N. E. of
Shanopins, and North of Lawrel-hill, must be deemed more so; since
the Distance from Lawrel-hill, on a straight Line to Shanopins,
does not by his, and Pattin’s Account, exceed Thirty-four
Miles.
And accordingly we find that the French Map, by
M. Bellin, lays down the whole Riviere au Beuff (which runs into
Ohio at Weningo) and on which the French Forts are built, but about
four Degrees of Longitude West from Philadelphia.
All which is humbly submitted to the Correction
of the House, this seventh Day of March, 1754, by