The Shape of the District. 158 
It is therefore 116 feet west of the meridian through the southern 
corner. The lengths of the four sides, intended to be exac tly te n 
miles long. are found to be in fact as follows: 
Southwestern side is 10 miles plus 230.6 feet long. 
Northeastemn “ “ 10 « GOB o 4 « 
Southeastern “ “10 “ aS (ta 
Northwestern “ “10 ‘* To a 
Thus the District is approximately a rectangle, the north- 
eastern and southwestern sides exceeding ten miles by about 245 
feet, and the southeastern and northwestern sides each exceeding 
ten miles by about 65 feet. If a more critical examination be 
made, it will be found that the distances between the various 
mileposts differ quite sensibly from miles, and it will be found 
further that the stones are not in line. . The actual lengths of 
these supposed miles may be seen on plate 9. 
As to direction, consider line number 1, or the southwestern 
line. It is intended to bear 45° west of north. Its actual direc- 
tion, as now appears from the Coast Survey determinations 
already referred to, is 44° 59’ 24”.6 west of north, or about half 
a minute less than intended. ‘The second, or southeastern line, 
which was to bear north 45° east, is found actually to bear north 
45° 1’ 45.6 east, exceeding the intended value by 
Site of Washington before 1790.—How did the site of Washing- 
ton and the District of Columbia look beforé 1790? No contem- 
porary map, so far as I know, exists to answer this question. 
Still, scattered bits of information here and there, diligently and 
patiently collected by Dr J. M. Toner, have enabled a map to be 
made which in part answers the question. Twenty years ago 
Messrs E. F. M. Faehtz and F. W. Pratt, authors and publishers 
of a real estate directory of Washington, published a book en- 
a “Washington in Embryo,” in an they include a m: ay 
“compiled from the rare historical researches of Dr J. M. T oner. 
This map shows the drainage, farm outlines, etc, of the tract on 
which Ellicott laid out a great city in 1791. Within this tract 
existed one real and two paper towns. Georgetown was the real 
town, and had been in existence some 35 or 40 years, while 
Carrollsburg and Hamburgh existed on paper only. 
Carrollsburg was a tract of 160 acres on the northern bank of 
the Anacostia, just east of the Arsenal grounds. Before its sub- 
division into 268 town lots it was known as Duddington manor 
