NEBRASKA.

The Territory of Nebraska was formed on May 30, 1854, from the northwestern part of Missouri Territory. Its limits, as originally constituted, are defined as follows in the act of organization:

Beginning at a point in the Missouri River where the fortieth parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the east boundary of the Territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence on said summit northward to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the Territory of Minnesota; thence southward on said boundary to the Missouri River; thence down the main channel of said river to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Nebraska. (Thirty-third Congress, first session.)

This area was reduced in 1861 by the formation of the Territories of Colorado and Dakota. (Vide Colorado, p. 130, and Dakota, p. 127.) The State of Nebraska was admitted on March 1, 1867.

Its limits are defined as follows in the enabling act:

That the said State of Nebraska shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the western boundary of the State of Missouri with the fortieth degree of north latitude; extending thence due west along said fortieth degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the twenty-fifth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence north along said twenty-fifth degree of longitude to a point formed by its intersection with the forty-first degree of north latitude; thence west along said forty-first degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington; thence north along said twenty-seventh degree of west longitude to a point formed by its intersection with the forty-third degree of north latitude; thence east along said forty-third degree of north latitude to the Keyapaha River; thence down the middle of the channel of said river, with its meanderings, to its junction with the Niobrara River; thence down the middle of the channel of said Niobrara River, and following the meanderings thereof, to its junction with the Missouri River; thence down the middle of the channel of said Missouri River, and following the meanderings thereof, to the place of beginning. (Thirty-eighth Congress, first session.)

In 1870 an act was passed to redefine a portion of the boundary between Nebraska and the Territory of Dakota, the pertinent portion of which is as follows:

That so soon as the State of Nebraska, through her legislature, has given her consent thereto, the center of the main channel of the Missouri River shall be the boundary line between the State of Nebraska and Territory of Dakota, between the following points, to wit: Commencing at a point in the center of said main channel, north of the west line of section twenty-four in township twenty-nine north, of range eight east of the sixth principal meridian, and running along the same to a point west of the most northerly portion of fractional section seventeen, of township twenty-nine north, of range nine east of said meridian, in the State of Nebraska, as meandered and shown by the plats and surveys of said sections originally made and now on file in the General Land Office. (Forty-first Congress, second session.)

The west boundary on the twenty-fifth degree of longitude west of Washington, between latitudes 40° and 41°, the south boundary on the forty-first parallel from the twenty-fifth degree of longitude to the

twenty-seventh degree, and the west boundary on the twenty-seventh degree of longitude, between the forty-first degree and the forty-third degree, were surveyed and marked in 1869, under the General Land Office.

In 1882 an act was passed transferring to this State from Dakota a small area lying between the Keyapaha River and the forty-third parallel of latitude. The following is the act in question:

Be it enacted, That the northern boundary of the State of Nebraska shall be, and hereby is, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, extended so as to include all that portion of the Territory of Dakota lying south of the forty-third parallel of north latitude and east of the Keyapaha River and west of the main channel of the Missouri River. (Forty-seventh Congress, first session.)

The north boundary, from the Keyapaha River westward, was surveyed in 1873. In 1893 the part of this boundary east of Keyapaha River was surveyed and the remainder resurveyed. All this was done under the General Land Office.

NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTH DAKOTA.

The Territory of Dakota was organized on March 2, 1861, from parts of Minnesota and Nebraska Territories. The following from the act of organization defines its original limits:

All that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, namely: Commencing at a point in the main channel of the Red River of the North where the forty-ninth degree of north latitude crosses the same; thence up the main channel of the same and along the boundary of the State of Minnesota to Big Stone Lake; thence along the boundary line of the said State of Minnesota to the Iowa line; thence along the boundary line of the State of Iowa to the point of intersection between the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers; thence up the Missouri River and along the boundary line of the Territory of Nebraska to the mouth of the Niobrara or Running Water River; thence following up the same, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the mouth of the Keyapaha or Turtle Hill River; thence up said river to the forty-third parallel of north latitude; thence due west to the present boundary of the Territory of Washington; thence along the boundary line of Washington Territory to the forty-ninth degree of north latitude; thence east along said forty-ninth degree of north latitude to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, organized into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Dakota. (Thirty-sixth Congress, second session.)

In 1863 the Territory of Idaho was formed, its area having been taken from Washington, Dakota, and Nebraska. (Vide Idaho, p. 134.) In 1882 a small area was transferred to Nebraska. (Vide Nebraska, above.)

In 1877 that part of the west boundary between latitudes 43° and 45° was surveyed and marked, under the General Land Office.

On November 2, 1889, the Territory of Dakota was divided into North and South Dakota, and each was admitted as a State. The following extract from the enabling act defines the boundary between these States:

The area comprising the Territory of Dakota shall

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be divided on the line of the seventh standard parallel produced due west to the western boundary of said Territory.

The boundary line between the two States was surveyed in 1891–92, under the General Land Office.

OKLAHOMA.

The Territory of Oklahoma was organized under an act passed May 2, 1890, from the western part of the Indian Territory. Its limits as originally constituted were as is set forth in the following act:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SEC. 1. That all that portion of the United States now known as the Indian Territory, except so much of the same as is actually occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes, and the Indian tribes within the Quapaw Indian Agency, and except the unoccupied part of the Cherokee Outlet, together with that portion of the United States known as the Public Land Strip, is hereby erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Oklahoma. The portion of the Indian Territory included in said Territory of Oklahoma is bounded by a line drawn as follows: Commencing at a point where the ninety-eighth meridian crosses the Red River; thence by said meridian to the point where it crosses the Canadian River; thence along said river to the west line of the Seminole country; thence along said line to the north fork of the Canadian River; thence down said river to the west line of the Creek country; thence along said line to the northwest corner of the Creek country; thence along the north line of the Creek country to the ninety-sixth meridian; thence northward by said meridian to the southern boundary line of Kansas; thence west along said line to the Arkansas River; thence down said river to the north line of the land occupied by the Ponca tribe of Indians, from which point the line runs so as to include all the lands occupied by the Ponca, Tonkawa, Otoe and Missouria, and the Pawnee tribes of Indians until it strikes the south line of the Cherokee Outlet, which it follows westward to the east line of the State of Texas; thence by the boundary line of the State of Texas to the point of beginning. The Public Land Strip which is included in said Territory of Oklahoma is bounded east by the one hundredth meridian, south by Texas, west by New Mexico, north by Colorado and Kansas. Whenever the interest of the Cherokee Indians in the land known as the Cherokee Outlet shall have been extinguished and the President shall make proclamation thereof, said outlet shall thereupon and without further legislation become a part of the Territory of Oklahoma. Any other lands within the Indian Territory not embraced within these boundaries shall hereafter become a part of the Territory of Oklahoma whenever the Indian nation or tribe owning such lands shall signify to the President of the United States in legal manner its assent that such lands shall so become a part of said Territory of Oklahoma, and the President shall thereupon make proclamation to that effect.

The lands embraced within the limits above set forth comprised the present Territory of Oklahoma, with the exception of an area on the north known as the Cherokee Strip, and provision was made for its incorporation, without additional legislation, within the Territory whenever the Indian title to it should be extinguished. This was done and the strip was added to the Territory by proclamation of the President, issued in September, 1893, giving Oklahoma its present limits. These differ from those above set forth only in a part of the northern boundary, which now corresponds with the south boundary of Kansas from the ninety-sixth meridian west.