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n_By Don Audette
Special to the Rappahannock News
The English settling in America in Colonial times surveyed land by compass for direction and a 66-foot long chain for distance. The compass, of course, pointed to magnetic north, not true north. This became a problem for later surveyors. Magnetic north physically moves over time and land could not be resurveyed accurately.
For example, if today you walked north from Washington, VA, using a compass to guide you, after five miles you would be about a mile (.86 mile) west of where you would be if you followed true north. This is because in Rappahannock County in 2007, magnetic north is estimated to be 9 degrees 53 minutes west of true north.
Third in a twins
If you did that bade in 1896, you would be only a third of a mile (0.33) west of true north because magnetic north was only 3 degrees 52 minutes west of true north then. Assume you had gold on the edge of your property back in 1896. It could be on your neighbor’s property today if a resurvey was maHn using magnetic north.
The General
Assembly leaps
into action in
1772 and 1875
75.5%