New York demanded, as the fundamental thing, that the original intention of a twenty-mile distance from the Hudson should be adhered to; and, moreover, that the boundary should run north and south, or parallel to the Hudson, instead of north-northwest-- a demand to which Connecticut yielded. On the other hand, it was conceded to Connecticut that she should retain her older settlements on the Sound, extending as far westward as the limits of the Town of Greenwich, or the month of the Byram Eiver; but as this arrangement would cut off from New York a considerable ter1ritory along tin1 Sound that rightfully belonged to her under the twenty-mile agreement, tin1 deprivation thus suffered was to be com-

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

pensated for by assigning to New York an " equivalent tract " {%. e., a tract equal in area to the surrendered Sound lands) along the whole extent of the fundamental north and south boundary. The divisional line traced in conformity with these mutual conces ions isprobably the most curious of American State boundaries, and must be an inexplicable puzzle to all persons not familiar with the historical facts which we have recited. It has no fewer than five points of departure. After following the Byram River for a short distance, it abruptly leaves that stream and runs in a straight direction northwest; then, forming a right angle, goes northeast; then returns again at a right angle to northwest; and finally, at a very obtuse angle, proceeds in a continuous course to the Massachusetts boundary. But however eccentric in appearance, it was constructed with strict reference to a fair and regular division of territory under the terms of the compromise and the peculiar conditions of existing settlement which made such a compromise necessary. Beginning at the mouth of the Byram River, the line, as thus decided upon in 1683, ran up that stream as far as the head of tidewater (about a mile and a half), where was a " wading-place" crossed by a road, and where stood a rock known as "The JERSEY Great Stone at the Wading-place." From this point as a natural boundary LONG ISLAND mark it went north-northwest to a distance eight miles from the Sound, which was deemed to be a reasonable VARIOUS BOUNDARY LINES, northward limit for the Connecticut Sound settlements.