The Fairfax Stone Gone.

Last Monday when the Maryland contingent of the surveying party met to begin locating the boundary line between this State and West Virginia they were somewhat astonished and an unexpected difficulty confronted them, which gave them some trouble, but which was surmounted after some hours delay. The survey was to begin at the Fairfax stone, which has been recognized by the Maryland Legislature as the point called for in the grant to Lord Baltimore. The Fairfax stone was planted in 1740 to show the bounds of the Fairfax grant. The recognition of this stone is contained in the act of 1852 passed by the Maryland Legislature on the 22d of May.

It was in pursuance of this act of Assembly that the Michler line was run in 1859 and 1860, which line began at the Fairfax stone as required by the act. When the representatives of Maryland met on the ground on Monday to begin work they were surprised to find that the Fairfax stone had been destroyed, and not even a trace of it could be found. In Lieut. Michler's report of his work he states that he “put up a cut stone resting on a foundation stone, set immediately south of the old stone marked ‘F X,’ planted in 1745 to show the lands of the Fairfax grant. This old stone was not disturbed.”

The stone put up by Michler was found and William H. Kitzmiller and George L. Mosser testified that they were present when the Michler stone was set up, and that it was by the side of the Fairfax stone. With this stone and testimony the beginning point was established and the work commenced. Observations have been made and the longitude of the meridian line found to be 2° 26′ 21″ 75 west of Washington observatory. The latitude of Fairfax stone 30° 11′ 32″ 5. The elevation and other data have been determined and the work is going forward.