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The bounds of the Indian Territory, as defined in the act of March 1, 1889, were as follows (25 Stat. L. 783):

North by the State of Kansas, east by the States of Missouri and Arkansas, south by the State of Texas, and west by the State of Texas and the Territory of New Mexico.

The people of the two Territories having adopted a constitution, the President, by proclamation dated November 16, 1907, declared the admission to statehood complete (35 Stat. L. 2160).

For descriptions of the boundaries of the State of Oklahoma as now marked, see Arkansas, page 120; Missouri, page 118; Texas, page 122; Kansas, page 139; and Colorado, below. Gittinger (1917) contains many references to boundaries as well as a history of the changes in the territory from 1803 to 1906.

A set of diagrams illustrating various stages in the change of the Oklahoma area from Indian ownership to statehood was prepared by George Pamley and printed by the Webb Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, in 1917.

COLORADO

A concerted attempt was made in 1958 to organize the "State of Jefferson," which was to include the present area of Colorado together with large areas now within the limits of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah; but by popular vote in 1859 it was decided to organize a Territorial government instead. A governor and a legislature were elected and held office until 1861, when the Territory of Colorado was established by act of Congress (Paxson, 1904, p. 92; Smiley, 1901, chap. 32; Campbell, 1922, p. 62-65).

Colorado was organized as a Territory on February 28, 1861 (12 Stat. L. 172), with the same boundaries as at present, being made up from parts of the Territories of Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska. (See figs. 27, 45, 47.) The name given to this Territory in the bill as it passed the House was Idaho; but it was changed to Colorado in the Senate.

The boundaries were described in an enabling act (13 Stat. L. 33), approved March 21, 1864, as follows:

That the said state of Colorado shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude with the twenty-fifth degree of longitude west from Washington; extending thence due west along said thirty-seventh degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the thirty-second degree of longitude west from Washington; thence due north along said thirty-second degree of west longitude to a point formed by its intersection with the forty-first degree of north latitude; thence due east along said forty-first degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the twenty-fifth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence due south along said twenty-fifth degree of west longitude.

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BOUNDARY LINES OF THE STATES COLORADO

A constitution formed by a convention held in 1864 in accordance with this act was rejected by popular vote; a second constitution formed by another convention, in 1865, was accepted by a small majority. Congress at its next session passed an act for the admission of Colorado to statehood, but it was vetoed in May, 1866, by the President. The principal reasons given for this action were scanty population and the small majority resulting from the second vote (3,030 against 2,875). Furthermore, it was stated that the second voting was held without legal authority. Another act for the admission of Colorado was vetoed in 1867 for reasons similar to those previously given. (U.S. Cong., 1897, p. 413-416, 483, 489; Thorpe, 1909, v. 1, p. 470.)

A third enabling act (18 Stat. L., pt. 3, 474), without change in boundaries, was approved March 3, 1875. The conditions of the act having been complied with, the President by proclamation dated August 1, 1876, declared the admission complete.

For reference to the survey and marking of the east boundary, see Kansas, page 139; and for the north boundary, see Nebraska, page 138, and Wyoming, page 145.

The south boundary of Colorado was surveyed in 1858-59 from the southeast corner west to the 103d meridian, by Macomb.

The act of March 3, 1873 (17 Stat. L. 517) provided for the survey of the eastern part of the south boundary of Colorado from the southeast corner of the State to the 103d meridian and also for the survey of so much of the east boundary of New Mexico as lies between the northwest corner of Texas and the 37th parallel of north latitude. These surveys were made by John G. Major, U.S. deputy surveyor, in 1873 and 1874, and were approved by the Commissioner of the General and Office July 29, 1874. The field notes are filed in the Cartographic Records Division, National Archives and Records Service. A survey of the boundary line between Colorado and New Mexico from the 103d meridian westward was authorized by act of Congress approved March 2, 1867. This line was surveyed and marked in 1868 by E. N. Darling, U.S. surveyor, presumably on the 37th parallel of latitude; but subsequent investigations in the vicinity of Edith, Colo., showed that between the sixth and eighth astronomical monuments (there were 11 in all), gross errors in alinement and measurement existed, there being an offset or jog

57 For descriptions of nine of these stations, see Beall (1925, p. 154–155).

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of nearly half a mile in the vicinity of the 212th mile mark.

To locate the line where original marks were missing, the State of Colorado, in 1901 (Colorado Session Laws of 1901, chap. 37), appropriated funds for the reestablishment of the Darling line between the sixth and eighth astronomical monuments. The act required that the field notes and plats be filed with the secretary of state of Colorado, to be accepted as conclusive evidence in all cases in Colorado courts in which this part of the southern boundary was in question. This work, done in 1901, by State authority alone, was not accepted or approved by Congress and was therefore not binding on New Mexico, which was then a Territory.

In 1902 Congress authorized the resurvey of the entire line between the State of Colorado and the Territories of New Mexico and Oklahoma.58 This survey was executed by H. B. Carpenter in 1902-3, but the joint resolution passed by Congress for its acceptance as the legal boundary was vetoed by the President.59 The Carpenter line differs materially from the Darling line, being considerably north of it in certain places and south of it in others. At the east end the Carpenter line is more than half a mile north of the southern boundary as surveyed in 1858. On October 13, 1919, permission was granted to the State of New Mexico by the U.S. Supreme Court to file a suit against the State of Colorado for a settlement of this boundary dispute. The opinion of the Court, dated January 26, 1925 was in favor of Colorado and a resurvey of the boundary line as marked by Darling in 1868 was ordered (267 U.S. 41). The Court held that the Darling line was the correct one because of its original acceptance by Colorado and by the Federal Government, regardless of its errors and the temporary use of the Carpenter line by the General Land Office. After the veto of the resolution for the acceptance of the Carpenter line, it was no longer used for the survey of the public lands. The decision of the Court was that the Darling line should be reestablished from what monuments could be found.

5 32 Stat. 552. See U.S. Cong. (1905a) for a description of this and the Darling surveys.

50 The veto message appears in the Congressional Record December 19, 1908, p. 451-452. The reason given for the veto was that Colorado had not accepted the line and probably would not do so, as it would take from that State a strip of land for nearly its whole length in which there were a considerable number of settlers and five post offices. The discussion that preceded the passage of the joint resolution by the House is given in the Congressional Record December 12, 1908.

In 1917, a part of the line had been rerun by W. C. Perkins of the General Land Office. This part was between Darling's mileposts 202 and 241, east of his astronomic station 8. The Perkins line was monumented with iron posts, and was accepted by the court.

The Court appointed Arthur D. Kidder of the Bureau of Land Management (then the General Land Office), as commissioner to resurvey the Darling line. (A meridian telescope that he used in his work is shown in fig. 37.) He supervised the fieldwork, which was delayed in execution owing to shortage of funds, the costs being paid by the States concerned. The report was prepared by Joseph C. Thoma, who was appointed commissioner following Mr. Kidder's death in 1958. The final report was submitted in three parts on February 15, May 2, and June 1, 1960. It was approved by the Supreme Court on October 24, 1960 (364 U.S. 296).

The instructions of the Court were that the Macomb and the Preston monuments were to be controlling points in the survey. The former monument had been set in 1859 in the survey mentioned above. The latter was set by Levi S. Preston in 1900 when he retraced the Major line 21⁄2 miles eastward to the northeast corner of New Mexico. (See Oklahoma, p. 140.)

Kidder began at the Macomb monument, which he replaced by a concrete monument with a bronze tablet. From this point (lat 37°00'00.29" N., long 103°02'49.97" W., 1927 N.A.D.) he first ran the line east to the Preston monument and then west, retracing Darling's line. He tied to all the Darling monuments he could find, setting concrete posts with bronze tablets each mile on the line between them. The iron posts set by Perkins were taken up, set in concrete, and replaced in their original position. He destroyed all the Carpenter monuments he found, except those known to have been used as points of reference for local surveys. Such monuments were preserved, and only marks identifying them as boundary markers were removed.

The closure at the west end of the line was on the point established by Robbins in 1875. (See New Mexico, p. 163.) This mark is deserving of more than passing notice, as it is the only one in the United States that is the common corner of four States. A new stone was set by Page and Lutz in 1899, replacing the original, which they had found damaged. In 1931, Everett H. Kimmell, surveyor of the General Land Office, replaced the stone with a concrete monument now there. Its geodetic position is lat 36°59'56.30" N., long 109°02'40.24" W. (1927 N.A.D.).

Because of the unique character of this boundary marker, the Department of the Interior placed an ornamental concrete slab around the monument in 1962. It is 28 feet square and is oriented with the cardinal directions. The names Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New

Mexico with the seal of each State appear in the proper quadrants. (See fig. 38.)

This position was used as a starting point in 1879 for the survey of the west boundary of Colorado. The survey runs north to the Wyoming line, a measured distance of 276 miles 51.66 chains. It was expected that this line would intersect the south boundary of Wyoming about 30 chains west of the 261st mile mark, but the line as run was nearly 1 mile farther west (262 miles 28.58 chains). A sandstone block 30 by 20 by 6 inches was set 18 inches in the ground at this point and marked "WYO" on the northeast, "COL 32° W L" on the southeast, and "UTAH 41, N L" on the southwest face.

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The explorations of John Wesley Powell, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1881-94, added to the knowledge of the topography crossed by boundary surveys of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming (figs. 39, 40).

The Colorado-Utah line was retraced in 1885 and remarked with stone or cedar posts from the south end as far north as milepost 209. Between mileposts 81 and

[graphic][merged small]

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89 the line was found to diverge toward the west 7°10', an error which at least in part accounts for the failure to close as expected on the Wyoming line. The initial mark of this line was thus described in 1885: A stone 7 feet by 12 by 6 inches set 3 feet in the ground, and marked on the northeast face "COLO 37° N L," on the southeast "N NEX 32° W L," on the southwest "ARIZONA," and on the northwest "UTAH 1875." Between the 100th and 110th miles the positions of two boundary marks were determined by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1893 (Bowie, 1914, p. 100), one in lat 38°27'46.16" N., long 109°03'33.52" W., and the

other in lat 38°33'56.41" N., long 109°03'33.66" W. (1927 N.A.D.). These longitudes show that the line in this locality is nearly half a mile west of its statute position.

WYOMING

Wyoming was organized as a Territory on July 25, 1868, from an area previously included in the Territories of Dakota, Idaho, and Utah. Its limits, which are the same as originally established, are defined in the following clause from the act creating it (15 Stat. L. 178):

That all that part of the United States described as follows: Commencing at the intersection of the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude west from Washington with the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, and running thence west to the thirty-fourth meridian of west longitude, thence south to the forty-first degree of north latitude, thence east to the twenty-seventh meridian of west longitude, and thence north to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, organized into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Wyoming.

[graphic][merged small][subsumed]

FIGURE 38.-Junction of four States: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Wyoming was admitted as a State by act of July 10, 1890, with boundaries as above described (see fig. 34, 26 Stat. L. 222), but it was

Provided. That nothing in this act contained shall repeal or affect any act of Congress relating to the Yellowstone National Park, or the reservation of the park as now defined, or as may be hereafter defined or extended or the power of the United States over it;

Wyoming has the right to serve criminal or civil writs in its portion of the park, but otherwise the United States has exclusive jurisdiction and control over it (26 Stat. L. 73). The original boundaries of the park were given in the act establishing it, dated March 1, 1872 (17 Stat. L. 32). Extensions were made by act approved March 1, 1929.

The north boundary of Wyoming was surveyed in 1879-80 under the General Land Office. Beginning at a post set in 1874 for the northwest corner of the State, the line was run eastward, checked by a number of observations for latitude, for a distance reported as 347 miles 43 chains. The marks were nearly all wooden posts in small mounds of earth. The eastern terminus of this line was on the meridian of 27° west of Washington as marked in 1877. The mark left at this corner was replaced in 1904 by a 6-foot stone post, the geographic position of which is lat 44°59′51.45" N., long 104°03′25.77" W., 1927 N.A.D. (Bowie, 1914, p. 93.)

The survey of the south boundary of Wyoming was made under the direction of the General Land Office in 1873. Beginning at a mark established in 1869 for the intersection of the 41st parallel and the 27th meridian west of Washington, the line was run westward, checked by six astronomic determinations of latitudes, to the computed location for the 34th meridian west of Washington. To find the proper position for this meridian, an astronomic station was established at Evanston, Wyo., the longitude of which was found to be 33°55'20.69" west of Washington. From this point a line was run due south to a mark on the boundary and thence west 4 miles 4.54 chains, to a point where an 8-foot sandstone post, appropriately marked, was set 3 feet in the ground and surrounded by a pile of rocks. The measured length of the south boundary of Wyoming was found to be 367 miles 48.81 chains.

Geographic positions on this boundary have been determined as follows: Boundary mark 44, a sandstone post projecting 4 feet above ground stands about 11 miles west of south from Cheyenne in lat 40°59'53.71" N. and long 104°53'33.58" W (1927 N.A.D.). This is said to be the only permanent boundary mark for several miles in either direction. Milepost 239 has been tied in to the triangulation of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Its position is lat 41°00'00.23" N. and long 108°36′16.98" W. The position of the stone that marks the southwest corner of Wyoming is lat 40°59′52.52′′ N., long 111°02'45.90" W. (Wilson and others, 1901, p. 202.)

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BOUNDARY LINES OF THE STATES MONTANA

A considerable part of the south boundary of Wyoming has been retraced by the General Land Office in connection with the surveys of public lands.

The west boundary of Wyoming was surveyed and marked in 1874. Beginning at the mark of 1873 at the southwest corner of the State, the line runs due north for a measured distance of 277 miles 72.66 chains to a point where a 30-inch pine post 10 feet long was set 3 feet in the ground and surrounded by a mound of earth and stone. The position for the intersection with the south boundary of Idaho as marked in 1871 was 41.38 chains north of the 69-mile point and 55.70 chains west of the mark previously established for the initial point of the Utah-Idaho boundary survey.

MONTANA

The Territory of Montana was organized by act of May 26, 1864, from a portion of Idaho. Its limits (figs. 34, 43), which have been changed but slightly, are given as follows in the organizing act (13 Stat. L. 86):

That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the limits, to wit: Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington with the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence due west on said forty-fifth degree of latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the thirty-fourth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence due south along said thirty-fourth degree of longitude to its intersection with the forty-fourth degree and thirty minutes of north latitude; thence due west along said forty-fourth degree and thirty minutes of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the crest of the Rocky Mountains; thence following the crest of the Rocky Mountains northward till its intersection with the Bitter Root Mountains; thence northward along the crest of said Bitter Root Mountains to its intersection with the thirty-ninth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence along said thirty-ninth degree of longitude northward to the boundary line of the British possessions; thence eastward along said boundary line to the twentyseventh degree of longitude west from Washington; thence southward along said twenty-seventh degree of longitude to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created intoa a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Montana.

Figure 41 shows the vista along part of the boundary between the United States and Canada along the 49th parallel near Gateway, Montana.

This act took from Idaho an area bounded in part on the south by the 45th parallel and on the west by the Bitterroot Mountains. The creation of Wyoming Territory in 1868 took from Dakota Territory the greater part of the area that had been restored to it by the Montana act, which extended west to the Continental

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