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Shore; a line from Smith's Point across the Chesapeake
to the southernmost angle of Watkins Point as part of
the southern boundary; and from Fairfax Stone north, the
western boundary."'
Virginia failed to ratify the report of the commission-
ers, but passed resolutions in i86o providing that, if the
governor should deem it necessary, permanent boundary
marks should be erected, at the joint cost of the two
States?x
The work of this commission did not result in a complete
settlement. The commissioners located the boundary be-
tween the Pocomolte River and the Atlantic Ocean, but
they found, on attempting to run the line from Smith's
Point across the Chesapeake to the month of the Poco-
moke, that there was no certainty as to where the line
should strike the eastern side of the Chesapeake. In short,
where was Watkins Point?
In 1867, Virginia directed a commission to trace the
boundary from Watkins Point across Smith's Island to
the Potomac; also from the same point to the ocean.
Messrs. John W. Field, Thomas H. Kellam and Samuel
W. Powell, were appointed to act jointly with a similar
commission appointed on. the part of Maryland. The
Maryland Assembly, during the following year, appointed
Messrs. Isaac D. Jones, William J. Aydelott, and Levin S.
Waters. Mr. John De La Camp, an assistant of Lieut. N.
Michler in 1858, was engaged as surveyor, and a line
crossing the peninsula was laid down.
At this juncture there arose a conflict of claims involv-
ing the oyster interests. The Maryland commissioners
insisted on a line being drawn from Smith's Point to the
southernmost angle of Watkins Point. The southernmost
au .. Laws of Maryland." t86o, Ch. 3$;.
T~ Col. A. W. McDonald was sent to Eagiand to gather evidence
con x~ Virginia's boundaries. He collected the McDonald
Pa pc~e~w~ich in i&0 werb still in manuscript in the State Library
at Ribhmond, Va., in five volumes.
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