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in California. The only way to test and settle the matter is by adjudicating it. Let the Territory of Arizona and California foot the bill. To show you that I am right, examine Chapter 2, Section 1, page 24, Howell Code, entitled, "Of the Formation and Rights of Counties."

Respectfully, your obedient servant.

P. S.-An agreed case could be gotten up which would make the expenses of a suit small. M. D. DOBBINS,

Sheriff and Ex Officio County Assessor,
Yuma County, Arizona.

JAMES O'DONNELL, Arizona City, A. T.

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LA PAZ, May 1st, 1867.

J. W. JONES

DEAR SIR: Upon a full examination of the law and the county boundaries of Yuma County, I find that all the property owned and claimed, or in your possession as agent, etc., lying and being on this side, which is the east side of the middle of the channel of the Colorado River, and within the limits of the county boundaries, and therefore under the jurisdiction of the Courts and the civil officers of the county. The fact of this being so renders it incumbent upon me to execute, as nearly as possible, my duties as Sheriff and ex officio County Assessor of Yuma County. I therefore request that you deliver to my deputy, Mr. Smith, a statement of your property, both real and personal, at your earliest convenience. Should you decline doing so, be kind enough to give your answer in writing. No doubt but that all parties have been advised by the best legal advisers in California. The only way to settle and test the matter is by adjudication. Let the Territory of Arizona and California foot the bill.

Permit me to refer you to page 24, Chapter 2, Section 1, Howell Code, entitled "Of the Formation and Rights of Counties."

An agreed case could be arranged which would make the expenses of the suit small.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

M. D. DOBBINS,

Sheriff and Ex Officio County Assessor,
Yuma County.

Hon. JOHN G. McCULLOUGH,

CITY OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, }

Attorney-General, State of California:

SIR: The question mentioned in the accompanying affidavit of the Sheriff of San Diego County, having been by him referred to me, as District Attorney, I beg leave to communicate the same to you for such consideration as you find it to require, briefly adding the reason that has led me to advise the Sheriff to continue in the receipt of taxes tendered him by the persons he mentions.

California was admitted into the Union with the boundaries established by her State Constitution. These, so far as concerns the present question, from the thirty-fifth parallel, followed "the middle of the channel of the Colorado River to the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the treaty of May thirtieth, eighteen hundred and forty-eight; thence running west and along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean," etc. Article V of the treaty defined the boundary between Upper and Lower California as a straight line drawn from the middle of the Rio Gila, where it unites with the Colorado, to a point on the Pacific Ocean, distant one marine league due south of the southwest point of the Port of San Diego. Without referring to the maps of Commissioner Weller, or of Commissioner Emory, the line above described is well designated on the maps entitled "General maps showing the counties explored and surveyed by the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, in the years eighteen hundred and fifty, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and eighteen hundred and fifty-three, under the direction of John R. Bartlett, United States Commissioner." This itself clearly indicating a narrow strip of land below the junction of the two rivers, and between the Colorado River and the Mexican boundary agreed upon by Article V of said treaty.

It would seem that the boundary of California should be held at this day according to this old line, notwithstanding the subsequent surveys of the newly acquired terrritory immediately adjoining south of it, as shown by the maps of Commissioners Weller and Emory.

In this I may be mistaken; yet it does not appear that any great injury will result from the course taken by the Sheriff of San Diego. Probably assessments in Arizona Territory, and even the rate of taxation, would be as high as in San Diego; and if in any degree otherwise, the question is capable of adjustment long before it may be necessary to place the moneys in the Treasury. It is indeed a matter of regret that the taxpayers, in the present situation of things, are liable to feel themselves harassed by rival jurisdictions.

With an apology for the length of my communication upon a matter that is entirely submitted to your opinion,

I am, very respectfully,

BENJ. HAYES.

BENJ. HAYES, Esq.,

ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Sacramento, May 24th, 1867.

District Attorney, San Diego:

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DEAR SIR: I am in receipt of yours of the thirteenth instant, and inclosed documents, and have examined in the State Library such maps and surveys and reports as would throw light upon the question submitted me, and that were available.

The maps very generally show the disputed strip of territory south of the Colorado to be within California.

But the question is more difficult and may be thus stated: California was admitted into the Union with the boundary reading: "Thence down the middle of the channel of said river (Colorado) to the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, as established in the treaty of May thirtieth, eighteen hundred and forty-eight." That treaty lays down the boundary as "Thence down the middle of the said branch and of said river (Gila) until it empties into the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado, following the division line between Upper and Lower California to the Pacific Ocean;" and in order to preclude all difficulty, "it is agreed that the said limit (the limit separating Upper from Lower California) shall consist of a straight line drawn from the middle of the Rio Gila, where it unites with the Colorado, to a point."-No doubt the point where the "middle" of the Gila empties into, or unites with, the Colorado, as specified in treaty, falls upon this side of the middle of the channel of the Colorado opposite to the mouth of the Gila, as specified in the Constitution. If it does, then the territory belongs to California. And whether it does or not, can be proven in a suit instituted for the recovery of taxes. Let a taxpayer in the disputed tract refuse to pay his taxes and be sued, and set up defense that he is not within the jurisdiction of the State of California, and let Arizona have full opportu nity to be heard, and let our Courts decide. If Arizona should not be satisfied with the decision, she will not be bound by it; but, I presume, the facts once ascertained, there will not be much doubt upon the law.

This is as speedy a way to settle the matter as can be devised. Get the facts fully in your record, so that this Court can decide the question on its merits. The suit will have to be commenced in your Court, as the Supreme Court has not original jurisdiction of such actions.

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DEAR SIR. You will perceive from the papers I send you that I have called for information from the Attorney-General in reference to the dispute existing in reference to the boundary between Arizona Territory and the State of California in the vicinity of Fort Yuma.

In this matter, it seems to me, the people living on the narrow strip

claimed by Arizona ought to send a petition to the Legislature repre-senting all the facts within their knowledge, and their feelings and wishes on this subject. Then I will be better able to frame some measure to settle this question.

(Signed :)

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BENJAMIN HAYES.

To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of California:

In accordance with the foregoing request of the Hon. Benjamin Hayes, we, the undersigned, residents of the State of California, and living upon said narrow strip of disputed territory, humbly petition your honorable body and respectfully represent:

That said narrow strip of disputed territory lies entirely upon the east bank of the Rio Colorado, commencing at a point upon said river twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers; thence running up the middle channel of said Colorado River to said junction with the said Gila-said strip being but a few hundred yards in width.

That the number of inhabitants living thereon does not reach one hundred souls.

That a large and prosperous population exists upon the eastern side of an imaginary line, supposed by some to be the boundary line at said. point between the State of California and the Territory of Arizona, and by others disputed, thereby creating much confusion in the clashing of jurisdictions between the officers of the County of San Diego, in the State of California, and the County of Yuma, in the Territory of Arizona; and, as a consequence, conducive to crime and the open defiance

of law.

That legal measures have already been taken on the part of the officers of the Territory of Arizona and the County of Yuma in the same,. claiming said disputed territory and the right of jurisdiction therein to enforce compliance with the laws of said Territory.

Therefore, your petitioners ask that said question may be speedily settled, and the right of civil and criminal jurisdiction conceded to the said Territory of Arizona.

And your petitioners will ever pray.

Dated at Arizona City, this twenty-second day of January, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.

H. T. STEUART & CO.,
JAMES O'DONNELL,
N. G. SNOW,

J. W. JONES,

A. J. KEEN,

YMALIA PERRY,

C. ARNABAR (M. D.),

E. D. TUTTLE,

W. L. HOPKINS,
ROBERT A. LOVELL,

A. BOWMAN,

HALL HANLON.

MEMORIAL

ASKING THAT THE TRACT OF LAND IN THE BEND OF THE COLORADO RIVER RIVER, OPPOSITE FORT YUMA, BE ATTACHED TO THE TERRI

TORY OF ARIZONA.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:

Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, respectfully represent that by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, between the United States and the Republic of Mexico, ratified in eighteen hundred and forty-eight, the boundary line between the two Republics would consist of a straight line drawn from the middle of the Gila River, where it unites with the Colorado, to a point on the coast of the Pacific Ocean distant one marine league south of the southernmost point of the Port of San Diego; that in pursuance of said treaty the boundary line was run by the Commissioners appointed by the two Republics for that purpose; that in running the line according to the said treaty the said boundary line crossed the Rio Colorado twice through a northern bend of that tortuous river, by which means a tract of land consisting of about one hundred and fifty acres south of said bend was thrown into the limits of the United States, thus leaving a small portion of the territory of the United States beyond the Colorado River, which separated it from every other portion of their territory. That when California was admitted into the Union as a State, in eighteen hundred and fifty, it was admitted with the same boundary on the south, as declared in her Constitution, that was specified in the said treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and run by the Commissioners aforesaid, the River Colorado separating the small tract of land before specified from the remainder of the State.

Your memorialists further represent, that the Organic Act of the Territory of Arizona, approved the twenty-fourth day of February, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-three, declared all that part of the Territory of New Mexico situated 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 the Territory of New Mexico should be and was erected into a Territorial Government, to be called Arizona; that the boundary of New Mexico on the west, by the Organic Act creating that Territory, approved September ninth, eighteen hundred and fifty, was the boundary line of the State of California from the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude south to the point of the Colorado River where said boundary begins, which was the line run by the Commissioners between the two Republics as aforesaid; that afterwards, by the Gadsden treaty of eighteen hundred and fifty-four, the southern portion of the Territory of Arizona was acquired from the Republic of Mexico, attached to New Mexico by an Act of Congress of the United States, and the boundary run and fixed by a Joint Commission of the two Republics, at an initial point on the Colorado twenty miles below the junction of River Gila with the Colorado; by this means the western boundary of Arizona runs from the thirty-seventh degree of latitude the whole length of the California boundary on the south, and beyond the line of that State on the Colorado River; that said small tract of land lies just below the

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