The Preemption Line

[RussNelson 28]

There's a whole Wikipedia page for the Preemption Line, but I wanted to point out locally relevant parts of it. In short, the western part of New York was promised to different colonies by different English kings. The preemption line was created to resolve those conflicts. Basically, New York was given the right to govern west of the line (and thus tax in perpetuity), while Massachusetts was given the right to sell land west of the line. Absent from this discussion (of course) were the Indians who had claims both east and west and treaties to back them up. But let's not get into that ball of worms.

Locally, the Preemption Line starts at the NY/PA border at mile stone 92 (there are mile stones every mile along the NY/PA border plus (in theory) mile stones at major road crossings.) on the east side of Widger Hill Road. It is also the border between Chemung County and Steuben County. It next raises its head on NY-352 west of South Corning Road, still the border, but on this road there is a monument noting the presence of the Preemption Line. It continues to be the county border between Chemung County and Schuyler County until it changes to the border between Dix and Orange in Schuyler County and it coincident with Locust Lane. Then it jumps westward almost a mile to become Preemption Road. 

Wait. Westward? I thought this was a north-south line? Well, yes, that was the plan, but the first Preemption Line was incorrectly surveyed. It started at MP92, but went slightly west of the correct location. You can find evidence of it by Preemption Line roads west of the true Preemption Line. Or, it's the border between Reading and Tyrone in Schuyler County.

You can keep tracing it north from there, but we're out of the Twin Tiers area of interest. The true preemption line is the eastern edge of the City of Geneva and continues as borders up to Sodus Point.

[Chris 3,051]

Very interesting, thanks @RussNelson ! I’ve driven Pre-Emption Road many times but never gabbed any thought to the name. This makes the drive a little more interesting.