ing the line. Upon the completion of the survey and marking of the portion of the boundary line coincident with the thirty-ninth meridian, the triangulation will be extended in a scutheasterly direction so as to locate points on the continuation of the said boundary line along the Bitterroot Mountains.

All triangulation will be executed in accordance with instructions issued by the Director of the United States Geological Survey under date of February 15, 1897. In running lines between points located on the boundary the following instruc tions will be observed:

The instrument used must be a first-class transit instrument, reading to minutes or less, with or without solar attachment, but provided with stadia wires, and must be kept constantly in adjustment. In running the line, double back and fore sights with telescope direct and reversed must be taken, in order to guard against errors resulting from imperfect adjustment of the line of collimation. It is absolutely necessary to follow this method whenever meridian lines are run, in order to avoid errors in the course.

When offset lines are necessary, the notes must fully explain the procedure, and a diagram of such offsets must be inserted after the verbal description.

Observations on Polaris for azimuth must be taken on the line every night, weather and other circumstances permitting, and the record of such observations must be given in detail in the notes in the manner as described in the Manual of Surveying Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States, issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office under date of June 30, 1894. Temporary marks will be established on the preliminary or random lines between located points, and on reaching a closing point the departure therefrom will be noted. The true line will then be established, and permanent marks placed by shifting the positions of the temporary marks with a swing proportionate to the closure error and distances. Distances along the line will be carried by stadia or chaining, so that it will be possible to locate accurately all monuments established, as well as all topographic and cultural features. The distances thus obtained will be checked in closing from one located point to another.

A full description of all monuments, the character of the timber and soil, the distances to the crossing of all bridges, rivers, lakes, outlines of wooded areas, railroads, roads, trails, and other prominent features will be fully recorded in the field notes, and a sketch of the topographic features adjacent to the boundary line will be made, as well as from each triangulation station on or near the line and from any traverse that may be run in connection with the line. Intersections will be made whenever possible on all important objects susceptible of location. The magnetic declination will be determined in connection with each transit observation on the line.

MARKING THE LINE.

Monolithic monuments will be placed on the boundary at the following places: Near the Northern Pacific Railway, near the Great Northern Railway, and near the north bank of the Kootenai River. These monuments are to be 6 feet long and 10 inches square, minimum dimensions, and are to be placed in a truly vertical position, set 3 feet in the ground and with their faces directed to the cardinal points. They are to be of undressed stone, except for a space sufficient to cut the words "Idaho" and "Montana" on the west and east sides, respectively, which will be dressed smooth, and try letters shall be 2 inches high, of proportionate width and of the style known as Egyptian. The same kind of monuments will be placed on the line at the international boundary and at the summit of the Bitterroot Mountains if it shall be found practicable to transport them in one mass, otherwise they will be prepared in the quarry in every respect similar to those mentioned above and will then be sawed into sections of such size as to be readily

transported on pack mules to their destinations. They will then be firmly and securely cemeted with Portland cement and established in the same manner as the other stone monuments. The monument on the international boundary in addition to having the inscription "Idaho" and "Montana" on the west and east sides, respectively, will have "Canada" inscribed on the north.

Intermediate between the stone monuments above described will be placed at prominent summits, road, trail, or stream crossings, at distances not exceeding a mile apart, and intervisible whenever possible, wrought-iron posts 6 feet in length, 3 feet of which shall be above ground and 3 feet below the surface, with a brass cap similar in general design to the standard iron posts used by the United States Geological Survey. The cap surmounting the post will be inscribed as below, the line cut on the cap being coincident with the boundary line:

IDAHO
BOUNDARY

LINE
MONTANA

Under each post will be placed a stone marked with charcoal or a vial filled with ashes.

It is assumed that generally a soil surface for the insertion of the stone or iron posts can be found sufficiently near the points it is desired to establish the monuments. If, however, the exact point should fall on rock at the international boundary or the summit of the Bitterroot Mountains, a hole will be chiseled in the rock to a depth of about 8 inches and a little larger than the base of the monument. Into this hole the monument will be firmly cemented with the best Portland cement. If the point for the location of one of the iron posts should fall on a rock surface, a copper plug similar to that used by the United States Geological Survey will be cemented in the rock and a truncated conical mound of stone, not less than 24 feet high and 5 feet broad, will be placed to the north of the point at a distance of 4 feet from it. The copper plug will be stamped as MONT. follows: IDA.

and will be properly oriented.

When suitable bearing trees are found within a distance of 100 feet of a stone monument or iron post, they must be marked on the side facing the corner in the manner prescribed in the manual for special corners.

In addition, each iron post will be witnessed, when possible, by mounds of earth or stone, one in Idaho and one in Montana, the material for the mounds to be taken from pits, one north and one south of the post, dug crosswise of the line. The pits will be 3 feet east and west, 2 feet north and south, and 1 foot deep, and their centers, as well as the centers of the mounds, will be 4 feet from the center of the iron post.

PLATS AND FIELD NOTES.

Special attention is called to the provisions of the law relating to plats and field notes.

All plats and field notes shall be approved and certified to by the Director of the Geological Survey, and four copies thereof shall be returned-one for filing in the surveyor-general's office of Idaho, one in the surveyor-general's office of Montana, one in the office of the Geological Survey, and the original in the General Land Office. All field notes must be transcribed on a typewriting machine.

The results of the topographic notes will be embodied in a map which will be drawn on a scale of 1 inch to a mile. Detailed diagrams of the points on the international boundary and at the intersections of the Bitterroot Mountains will be made.

All parties engaged in the prosecution of this survey will be sworn before an officer duly qualified to administer oaths at the beginning and end of the survey. The oath of the chief of party must be taken either before the clerk of the district court or a United States commissioner. (See Manual, page 64.)

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, June 5, 1897.

The DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. SIR: Your letter of the 5th instant has been received, submitting for my consideration and approval instructions relating to the survey of the boundary line between Idaho and Montana, for which provision was made in the sundry civil appropriation bill, approved June 4.

The instructions in question have been approved by indorsement thereon and are herewith returned.

Very respectfully,

Mr. R. U. GOODE, Geographer.

C. N. BLISS, Secretary.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

Washington, D. C., June 7, 1897.

SIR: The execution of the necessary work in connection with the survey of the boundary line between Idaho and Montana, as provided for in the sundry civil bill for the fiscal year 1897-98, is placed under your supervision.

This work will be performed in accordance with instructions approved June 5, 1897, by the Secretary of the Interior.

The sum of $7,650 has been appropriated in this connection, and you are authorized, within the limits of the above appropriation, to employ such temporary field assistants as may be necessary for the proper prosecution of the survey, and to make such journeys and to order your assistants to make such journeys as may be necessary in carrying forward the work.

Very respectfully,

CHAS. D. WALCOTT, Director.

BOUNDARY LINES.

Territorial and State lines in the northwestern portion of the United States have undergone many changes. Originally this area was included partly in Louisiana and partly in Oregon, the dividing line being the crest of the Rocky Mountains.

Oregon Territory was organized August 14, 1848. Its area at that time included the present States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and portions of Wyoming and Montana. The Territory of Nebraska, formed from a portion of the Louisiana Purchase, was organized May 30, 1854. Its original area extended from Minnesota on the east to the continental watershed on the west, and included the existing State of Nebraska and portions of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The Territory of Dakota was formed March 2, 1861, from parts of the State of Minnesota and the Territory of Nebraska, and on March 3, 1863, the Territory of Idaho was formed of portions of Nebraska, Dakota, and Washington, the latter having been organized March 2, 1853, from a portion of the Territory of Oregon. Originally, Idaho contained about 324,875 square miles, but in 1864 it

was reduced 146,080 square miles by the formation of the Territory of Montana, which was taken entirely from Idaho, and in 1868 it was further reduced by the formation of the Territory of Wyoming, almost the whole of which (93,995 square miles) was taken from Idaho. Montana to-day stands as originally organized, while Idaho contains about 84,800 square miles.

The present boundaries of Montana are described as follows:

Beginning at the intersection of the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude with the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions, it follows said meridian south to the forty-fifth parallel of latitude; thence west on this parallel to the thirty-fourth meridian; south on the thirty-fourth meridian to the point where that meridian intersects the continental watershed; thence westward and northwestward, following the line of the continental watershed and the summit of the Bitterroot Range to its intersection with the thirty-ninth meridian; thence north on the thirty-ninth meridian to the boundary line between the United States and British possessions, and east on that boundary line to the point of beginning.

The present boundaries of Idaho are described as follows:

Beginning at the intersection of the thirty-ninth meridian with the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions it follows said meridian south until it reaches the summit of the Bitterroot Mountains; thence southeastward along the crest of the Bitterroot Range and the Continental Divide until it intersects the meridian of thirty-four degrees of longitude; thence southward on this meridian to the forty-second parallel of latitude; thence west on this parallel of latitude to its intersection with a meridian drawn through the mouth of the Owyhee River; north on this meridian to the mouth of the Owyhee River; thence down the midchannel of the Snake River to the mouth of the Clearwater; and thence north on the meridian which passes through the mouth of the Clearwater to the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions, and east on said boundary line to the place of beginning.

The boundary under discussion is the common one mentioned above.

In the United States State boundary lines may be grouped in two general classes:

First. Those that are defined by some natural physical feature, such as an ocean or a lake shore, the channel or bank of a stream, the summit of a range of mountains, or a watershed.

Second. Those that are defined by imaginary lines which must be traced on the earth's surface by astronomic or mathematical processes. Such a line may be a meridian of longitude, a parallel of latitude, a line between two points (such as a portion of the eastern boundary of Nevada, which is from the intersection of the one hundred and twentieth meridian and the thirty-ninth degree of latitude to a point on the Colorado River where it intersects the thirty-fifth degree of latitude), a line defined by azimuth and distance or a number of such lines consecutively joined (such as the boundary line between Maine and New Hampshire), a line determined by a given direction from a certain point terminating at its intersection with some other line