The Fabric of America, by Andro Linklater

The Fabric of America, by Andro Linklater.
He tells the interesting story of how some of the early state borders were formed. Much of the story is about the work of Andrew Ellicott. He was very good with math and knew spherical geometry. With the simple tools he had in the late 1700s, he was able to achieve extraordinary accuracy. Ellicott established the SW corner of Pennsylvania in 1784. For timing he used the positions of the moons of Jupiter. Using GPS today you will find that Ellicott’s and GPS’ position are only 23 feet apart. Have you ever wondered why Minnesota has that point sticking up on it’s northern border with Canada. In a private communication with the author, it all goes back to the “Treaty of Paris”, that declared the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783. In words the treaty states that the border with Canada goes through the “middle of Lake of the Woods” and the 49th parallel. At the time, it was assumed or thought that the 49th parallel went through the middle of Lake of the Woods. Thirty years later it was discovered that the 49th parallel was well south of the “middle of the lake.” Rather than renegotiating the treaty they just accepted the original treaty and it’s words.