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Mexico that prior to an avulsion which occurred in 1864 the river was in many places east of its present position. The case was dismissed in an opinion dated December 5, 1927,62 in which it was declared that the boundary between the two States is the middle of the channel of the Rio Grande as it was located in 1850. The intersection of this line with the 32d parallel is to be taken as 750 feet west of Clark monument No. 1 reestablished by commissioners in 1911. The opinion of the court contains many interesting references to decisions in other cases where water boundaries were involved. This claim is upheld in the report to the Supreme Court, July 17, 1930, by the commissioner under whose direction the line was surveyed and marked in 1929-30. The net gain in area by New Mexico is 3.9 square miles. There are now 105 concrete monuments on the line.

UTAH

The Mormons settled in Utah in 1847. In 1849 they organized a territorial government which they called Deseret, but a delegate sent to Congress was not recognized by that body.

Utah was established as a Territory by act of September 9, 1850, and included part of the area acquired from Mexico by the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. (See fig. 24.) Its limits are given in the following extract from the act by which it was created: 63

All that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, to wit: bounded on the west by the State of California, on the north by the Territory of Oregon, and on the east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government, by the name of the Territory of Utah.

This area was reduced by the formation, in 1861, of the Territories of Nevada (see p. 235) and Colorado (see p. 223) and in 1864 and 1866 by the extensions eastward of the limits of the State of Nevada.

The present boundaries of Utah are by statute as follows: Commencing with the intersection of the 42d parallel of latitude with the 34th meridian of longitude west from Washington; running thence south on this meridian to the 41st parallel of latitude; thence east on this parallel to the 32d meridian of longitude; thence south on this meridian to its intersection with the 37th parallel of latitude; thence west upon this parallel of latitude to its intersection with the 37th meridian of longitude; thence north on this meridian to its intersection with the 42d parallel of latitude; thence east on the 42d parallel of latitude to the place of beginning.

The enabling act for Utah, approved July 16, 1894, fixed its boundaries "as at present described." 64 The admission to statehood was declared in effect by the President's proclamation of January 4, 1896.

62 275 U. S. 279; 276 U. S. 559.

639 Stat. L. 453.

64 28 Stat. L. 107.

The Utah-Idaho line was surveyed and marked in 1871 under the direction of the General Land Office. The initial point was fixed by reference to an astronomical station near the Bear River. The position for the terminal mark was determined by a long series of observations for latitude with a zenith telescope. The initial mark was a wooden post 812 feet by 12 inches by 7 inches, marked "34° W L" on the east, " UTAH" on the southwest, "IDAHO" on the northwest, and "42 L 1871" on the north, which was surrounded by a large pile of stones. From this point a line was run due west a measured distance of 153 miles 56 chains to a point where an 8-foot cedar post was set in a mound of rocks and suitably marked for the common corners of Nevada and Utah on the Idaho line. A mark

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set in 1870 for these corners was destroyed, the new mark being placed 1 mile 12 chains farther south.

The Utah-Arizona boundary, on the 37th parallel of latitude, was surveyed and marked in 1901. The mark set in 1870 for the southwest corner of Utah was destroyed, as observations for latitude showed that it was 1 mile 31.51 chains too far north. A new corner mark was established 7.88 chains south of the 300th mile mark of the Nevada boundary survey of 1870. This mark consisted of a sandstone post 6 feet by 16 inches by 12 inches, set in a pile of stones and marked "NEVADA" on the northwest, "UTAH" on the northeast "ARIZONA" on the southeast, and "37 N L 1901" on the southwest. The line was run thence due east, checked by five latitude stations,65 a measured distance of 277 miles 5.18 chains, and intersected the post at

For descriptions of these stations see U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Special Pub. 110, p. 259, 1925.

the southwest corner of Colorado, set in 1875. The mark for each mile of this line is a stone post or iron pipe. Between the 152d and 153d mile marks the line passes over a sandstone butte, the summit of which rises about 1,000 feet above the plain. (See pl. 10, B.) Surveys by the General Land Office in 1927 show that there is a break in this line near longitude 110° 30' (T. 43 S., R. 13 E., Salt Lake base and meridian), milepost 197 being 33 chains (2,178 feet) farther north than milepost 199.

For reference to the survey of the west boundary of Utah see Nevada, page 235, and for reference to the east boundary see Colorado, page 225. All these lines were run under the direction of the General Land Office.

ARIZONA

Arizona was organized as a Territory by act of February 24, 1863, from the western part of the Territory of New Mexico (fig. 22) with boundaries described as follows:66

That all that part of the present Territory of New Mexico situate west of a line running due south from the point where the southwest corner of the Territory of Colorado joins the northern boundary of the Territory of New Mexico to the southern boundary line of said Territory of New Mexico be, and the same is hereby, erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Arizona.

In 1866 an area of approximately 11,600 square miles north of the middle of the Colorado River and west of the 37th meridian west from Washington was added to Nevada.67

69

The admission of Arizona to the Union was provided for in acts of June 16, 1906,68 and June 20, 1910, and in a joint resolution approved August 21, 1911,70 and was declared in effect by proclamation dated February 14, 1912.

The present boundaries of Arizona are described as follows: Beginning at the point of intersection of the 37th parallel of latitude with the 32d meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence south along this meridian to its intersection with the boundary line between the United States and Mexico; thence with this boundary to the Colorado River; thence up the middle of the main channel of the Colorado River to its point of intersection with the 37th meridian of longitude; north on this meridian to its intersection with the 37th parallel; and eastward along the 37th parallel to the place of beginning.

For reference to surveys of the boundaries see pages 39, 230, 232.

66 12 Stat. L. 665.

6714 Stat. L. 43.

68 34 Stat. L., pt. 1, p. 267.

36 Stat. L., pt. 1, p. 570. 70 37 Stat. L., pt. 1, p. 39.

106262°-30- -16

NEVADA

The Territory of Nevada, as organized by act of March 2, 1861, consisted of territory taken from Utah. (See fig. 24.) The following are the boundaries as described in the act:

71

beginning at the point of intersection of the forty-second degree of north latitude with the thirty-ninth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence running south on the line of said thirty-ninth degree of west longitude, until it intersects the northern boundary line of the Territory of New Mexico; thence due west to the dividing ridge separating the waters of Carson Valley from those that flow into the Pacific; thence on said dividing ridge northwardly to the forty-first degree of north latitude; thence due north to the southern boundary of the State of Oregon; thence due east to the place of beginning.

The limits thus described included a small area to be taken from the State of California. It was therefore

Provided, That so much of the Territory within the present limits of the State of California shall not be included within this Territory until the State of California shall assent to the same.

73

The State of California having failed to cede the territory west of the 120th meridian," Congress by act of July 14, 1862, added to Nevada a strip of land more than 50 miles wide, west of the 38th meridian from Washington and extending from the north line of New Mexico to the 42d parallel of latitude. The boundaries as described in the enabling act of March 21, 1864,74 were as follows:

That the said state of Nevada shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the thirty-eighth degree of longitude west from Washington with the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude; thence due west along said thirtyseventh degree of north latitude to the eastern boundary line of the state of California; thence in a northwesterly direction along the said eastern boundary line of the state of California to the forty-third degree of longitude west from Washington; thence north along said forty-third degree of west longitude and said eastern boundary line of the state of California to the forty-second degree of north latitude; thence due east along the said forty-second degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the aforesaid thirty-eighth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence due south down said thirtyeighth degree of west longitude to the place of beginning.

Nevada became a State by presidential proclamation dated October 31, 1864.

An act approved May 5, 1866, further enlarged the area of Nevada by the addition of territory taken from Utah and Arizona, described as follows: 75

71 12 Stat. L. 209.

72 See California S. Jour. for 1861, p. 630; idem for 1862, p. 525.

78 12 Stat. L. 575.

74 13 Stat. L. 30.

75 14 Stat. L. 43.

That, as provided for and consented to in the constitution of the State of Nevada, all that territory and tract of land adjoining the present eastern boundary of the State of Nevada, and lying between the thirty-seventh and the fortysecond degrees of north latitude and west of the thirty-seventh degree of longitude west of Washington, is hereby added to and made a part of the State of Nevada.

That there is hereby added to and made a part of the State of Nevada all that extent of territory lying within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing on the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude at the thirty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington, and running thence south on said degree of longitude to the middle of the river Colorado of the West; thence down the middle of said river to the eastern boundary of the State of California; thence northwesterly along said boundary of California to the thirtyseventh degree of north latitude; and thence east along said degree of latitude to the point of beginning.

The present State of Nevada according to statute 76 is bounded on the east by the 37th meridian of longitude west of Washington, on the south by the middle of Colorado River to the 35th parallel, on the southwest by the California line, on the west by the 120th meridian of longitude, and on the north by the 42d parallel.

The north boundary of Nevada was surveyed in 1873 from an initial point on the Utah-Nevada line, whose latitude had been carefully determined in 1871, westward to a post set in 1868 for the northeast corner of California. The measured distance was 310 miles 48 chains. The marks placed on the line were mounds of earth, wooden posts, or small stones. This line passed the meridian boundary between Idaho and Oregon at 152 miles 72 chains from the northeast corner of Nevada and 4 chains south of the terminal mark of the 1868 survey.

The east boundary of Nevada, which follows the 37th meridian west of Washington, was surveyed in 1870. The longitude for the initial point was found by direct measurement east from Pilot Peak, whose latitude and longitude had been determined by triangulation from the Salt Lake City astronomic station. The assumed longitude of Pilot Peak was 114° 04' 55.4" west from Greenwich; the latest determination by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey is 114° 04′ 36.27" (North American datum). The initial point thus selected for the boundary was in the middle of the track of the Central Pacific Railroad (now the Southern Pacific). From this point the line was run northward a measured distance of 46 miles 40 chains to a position which sextant observations indicated was the 42d parallel of latitude. In 1871 a long series of observations made with a zenith telescope showed that the mark at this point was too far north, consequently it was moved south 1 mile 12 chains in 1873.

78 Enabling act of 1864 (13 Stat. L. 43) with additions of 1866 (14 Stat. L. 43).

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