ore, when turning again it made for the original starting-place at
Dunstable northwest corner. These lines enclosed a triangular district
which became known as Groton Gore; in fact, the word _gore_ means a lot
of land of triangular shape. This territory is now entirely within the
State of New Hampshire, lying mostly in Mason, but partly in Brookline,
Wilton, Milford, and Greenville. It touches in no place the tract,
hitherto erroneously supposed to comprise the Gore. It was destined,
however, to remain only a few years in the possession of the
proprietors; but during this short period it was used by them for
pasturing cattle. Mr. John B. Hill, in his History of the Town of Mason,
New Hampshire, says:--

Under this grant, the inhabitants of Groton took possession of, and
occupied the territory. It was their custom to cut the hay upon the
meadows, and stack it, and early in the spring to send up their
young cattle to be fed upon the hay, under the care of Boad, the
negro slave. They would cause the woods to be fired, as it was
called, that is, burnt over in the spring; after which fresh and
succulent herbage springing up, furnished good store of the finest
feed, upon which the cattle would thrive and fatten through the
season. Boad's camp was upon the east side of the meadow, near the
residence of the late Joel Ames. (Page 26.)

In connection with the loss of the Gore, a brief statement of the
boundary question between Massachusetts and New Hampshire is here given.

During many years the dividing-line between these two provinces was the
subject of controversy. The cause of dispute dated back to the time when
the original grant was made to the colony of Massachusetts Bay, The
charter was drawn up in England at a period when little was known in
regard to the interior of this country; and the boundary lines,
necessarily, were very indefinite. The Merrimack River was an important
factor in fixing the limits of the grant, as the northern boundary of
Massachusetts was to be a line three miles north of any and every part
of it. At the date of the charter, the general direction of the river
was not known, but it was incorrectly assumed to be easterly and
westerly. As a matter of fact, the course of the Merrimack is southerly,
for a long distance from where it is formed by the union of the
Winnepeseogee and the Pemigewasset Rivers, and then it turns and runs
twenty-five or thirty