REPORT OF DR. PETERS. 



Hon. 0. S. Williams, 



Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Hamilton College: 



Dear Sir — In compliance witli directions of the Regents of the 

 University, Hon. J. V. L. Pruyn, Chancellor, I have determined the geo- 

 graphical longitude of the westernmost boundary of the State. According 

 to the Revised Statutes (5th ed. I, p. 80), this boundary should be " a 

 meridian line drawn through the most westerly bent or inclination of 

 Lake Ontario." It was surveyed and mapped in 1790, by Andrew 

 Ellicot, as United States Commissioner (Penn. Archives, vol. xii. Map), 

 and has been marked on the field by stone monuments, about three 

 miles apart; the northernmost monument standing near the shore of 

 Lake Erie; the southernmost supposed to be exactly in latitude 42°. 

 To ascertain how near the original definitiom had been agreed with, 

 seemed not to be of my purpose ; considering the imperfection of methods 

 and instruments of eighty years ago, an error of many rods is admissible 

 in the situation of the bomidary with regard to the meridian of the bent 

 of Lake Ontario. For, since the opposite shore of Lake Erie is below 

 the horizon, and cannot be seen from the southern shore, either an 

 accurate triaugulation around the lake, or two absolute longitude deter- 

 minations, such as only modern means could afford, would have been 

 required. On the other hand, the fulfilment of the second condition, viz : 

 that the boundary should be " a meridian line," was much easier, even 

 in the past century. Assuming, therefore, in this respect, the boundary 

 as correct, it was deemed sufiicieut to ascertain the longitude of any one 

 point in it, the choice of which being guided only by the convenience 

 of access. After conferring with Governor George W. Paterson, at 

 Westfield, I reconnoitered the position of the monument on the shore 

 and the course of the line, on August 7, in company with Jeremiah 

 Mann, Esq., and thereupon resolved to place the observing station at 

 State Line Station, where the boundary line is intersected by the Lake 

 Shore railroad. Thus not only I had the advantage of personal accom- 

 modation, by the hospitality of Mr. D. Taylor, but, which was important, 



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