[QUOTE=Bricker]
Virginia, citing a 1785 compact between the two states, said that Maryland couldn’t regulate squat: Virginia was free to take whatever water it wished.
[/QUOTE]
The 1785 compact itself is a fascinating story, as representatives of the two states met (at Washington’s invitation, of course) at Mount Vernon to hash it out, and the example of successful resolution of an intercolonial dispute spurred Washington and others to agitate for a broader convention to revise the Articles of Confederation.
I’m glad to hear that Virginia won and that the compact is still in force!
[QUOTE=Giles]
Based on what has happened with the Mississippi River, the boundary stays the same. For example, the original capital of Illinois (Kaskaskia) is now on the western side of the river, while the rest of the state is still on the eastern side, because the river moved but the boundary didn’t.
[/QUOTE]
It depends on how it moves.
If it moves by accretion, the boundary moves with it. If it moves by avulsion (e.g., a flood event), then the boundary stays the same.
And yes, the Mississippi River gives us some interesting examples, especially around the area where Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas all get together. :eek:
And as for the interesting case regarding the Potomac River, see VIRGINIA v. MARYLAND (pdf) Or read it here. (website).
[QUOTE=Colophon]
It’s quite cool how clearly the state line stands out on the satellite view. (Scroll westwards from here too.)
Round about here, though, the “line on the ground” seems to bulge north a little although the line on the map is straight. That driveway appears to cross into Pennsylvania.
[/QUOTE]
Boundary determined to be the “low-water mark on the northerly side of the Ohio River as it existed in the year 1792,” rather than the river’s northerly low-water mark “as it exists from time to time.”
Rejected Kentucky’s defenses based on “principles of riparian boundaries, including accretion, erosion and avulsion” and found that the construction of dams on the river had caused the present low-water mark on the Illinois side to be farther north than it was in 1792.
[QUOTE=Giles]
(Similarly, the state boundaries along the Ohio River are along the southern bank of that river).
[/QUOTE]
Actually, Ohio (and all other states formed from the Northwest Territories) are strictly north of the Ohio river.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
Round about here, though, the “line on the ground” seems to bulge north a little although the line on the map is straight. That driveway appears to cross into Pennsylvania.
[/QUOTE]
Just so the laws don’t encroach on Pennsylvania I’m fine.
[QUOTE=Pleonast]
Actually, Ohio (and all other states formed from the Northwest Territories) are strictly north of the Ohio river.
[/QUOTE]
I had the impression on the times when I’ve walked across the Ohio River (on bridges, not walking on water) that the boundary was on the Kentucky shore. However, Illinois v. Kentucky, cited by Dinsdale, shows that I was wrong in that.
[QUOTE=Giles]
I had the impression on the times when I’ve walked across the Ohio River (on bridges, not walking on water) that the boundary was on the Kentucky shore.
[/QUOTE]
I stopped relying on state-erected signs for reliable border info as a child, when I noticed how infrequently the signs on either side of the expressway for the states you are leaving/entering were directly across from each other.
In Covington, KY, across from Cincy, the wall on the S side of the river used to say “Mason-Dixon Line” in huge letters, creating the impression that the wall was on the line.
[QUOTE=Pleonast]
Actually, Ohio (and all other states formed from the Northwest Territories) are strictly north of the Ohio river.
[/QUOTE]
Yes indeed, when Virginia ceded its northwestern claims to the federal government in 1784, it was careful to cede the territory “lying and being to the northwest of the river Ohio”, and not the river itself. (Kentucky and West Virginia were later hived off from Virginia and inherited the boundary.)
As a result Blennerhassett Island, which lies within the river, composed part of the state of Virginia, which meant that when Aaron Burr was accused of committing treason there, his trial took place in Richmond with John Marshall riding circuit instead of some run-of-the-mill Associate Justice. River boundaries have consequences!
[QUOTE=Dinsdale]
In Covington, KY, across from Cincy, the wall on the S side of the river used to say “Mason-Dixon Line” in huge letters, creating the impression that the wall was on the line.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, the western end of the Mason-Dixon line is where the southern boundary of Marshall County WV and the northern boundary of Wetzel County WV hit the boundary of the State of Ohio. (And it’s off the Ohio shore, because the river is higher than it was when the boundary was set, since there is a dam and lock about 5 miles downstream of there).
