Slike strani
PDF
ePub

vary from 6 seconds north to 8 seconds south of the mean parallel of latitude or a range of more than a quarter of a mile. It seems likely that for future surveys geodetic positions will be used wherever available.35 (See p. 174.)

All boundary lines should be well marked, the size and character of the marks to depend on the importance of the line. (See pl. 2.) Many State boundaries, even some run in recent years, have been very inadequately marked, blazes on trees or stones so small that they could be easily carried off having been used. Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in litigation and in the resurvey of old lines would have been saved had the lines been properly marked when first run. Many lines have marks at intervals of 1 mile. A better rule to follow is to place the marks in such a way that from any one of them two others may be seen, all obstructing trees and brush being cleared away. Marks should also be placed at road crossings and other important points.

A State-line mark should project not less than 3 feet above ground (4 feet is better) and should be so firmly set that it can not be easily overturned nor disturbed by frost. These conditions are most easily met by constructing monuments of concrete or of metal posts set on concrete bases. Each monument should have the State names on opposite sides; it should bear also the year of survey, an identifying number, and, if practicable, a reference to the treaty or act in accordance with which the line was run. The following specifications were prepared for the monuments on the New York-Connecticut boundary, survey of 1909-10, and are quoted as affording examples of adequate marks:

The monuments are to be of good-quality light-colored granite, free from seams or other defects, straight and of full size throughout, not less than 9 nor more than 10 feet in length, 12 inches square 4 feet down from the top, tapering from 12 inches square to not over 15 inches square in the next 1%1⁄2 feet and not less than 12 inches nor more than 20 inches on any face the rest of the distance. The top and the four sides of each monument for a distance of 4 feet from the top are to be cut smooth at right angles with each other and finished with 6-cut work. The tapering portion to be pointed to a smooth even surface to conform to the dimensions given. The remaining portions to be left as split, but full size, not less than 12 inches square throughout, the bottom to be not less than 12 inches square and substantially at right angles to the sides, and every point of the lower 5 feet of the stone must lie outside the planes of the smooth-cut portion. On one side will be cut the letters "N. Y."; on the opposite side will be cut the letters "CONN." On the third side will be cut the figures 1909." * Additional similar letters shall be cut as may be ordered. The letters "N. Y." and "CONN." are to be 5 inches high; the figures to be 4 inches high. All letters to be cut with V-shaped indentations at least 1⁄2 inch deep.

*

66

*

35 For a discussion of this subject see Report of the survey of the boundary between the United States and Canada: 44th Cong., 2d sess., S. Ex. Doc. 41, pp. 260, 261, 267, 1878. See also Am. Soc. Civil Eng. Proc., October, 1926, p. 1699, and March, 1927, p. 428.

These monuments were set in concrete bases 4 feet square and 5 feet deep.

The most recent practice in marking curved or crooked boundaries is to make them a series of connected straight lines, and for water boundaries to set suitable reference marks on shore. This plan was authorized by the British treaty of 1908 for the rivers on the Canadian boundary and was adopted in marking the MassachusettsRhode Island line.

The boundary marks should be protected by law and should be inspected frequently and repaired whenever necessary. Some States provide for such attention-New York at 3-year intervals, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts at 5-year intervals.3°

A United States statute, approved March 4, 1909, makes it a misdemeanor to molest any monument or witness tree on a Government survey. It provides as follows: 37

Whoever shall willfully destroy, deface, change, or remove to another place any section corner, quarter-section corner, or meander post, on any Government line of survey, or shall willfully cut down any witness tree or any tree blazed to mark the line of a Government survey, or shall willfully deface, change, or remove any monument or bench mark of any Government survey, shall be fined not more than two hundred and fifty dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

The necessity for preserving boundary marks was recognized by Moses, who wrote (Deuteronomy xix, 14): "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark."

Many references to court decisions regarding boundaries can be found in the following publications:

Clark, F. E., A treatise on the law of surveying and boundaries, chap. 21, Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1922.

Mack, William, Cyclopedia of law and procedure, vol. 36, p. 842, New York, American Law Book Co., 1910.

Mack, William, and Hale, W. B., Corpus juris, Boundaries, vol. 9, pp. 145– 298, New York, American Law Book Co., 1916.

McKinley, W. M., and Rich, B. A., Ruling case law, Boundaries, vol. 4, pp. 77-132, 1914, and States, vol. 25, pp. 373–376, Northport, N. Y., Edward Thompson Co., 1916.

Michie, T. J., The encyclopedia of Supreme Court reports, vol. 3, pp. 494–507, Charlottesville, Va., 1909.

Moore, J. B., A digest of international law: 56th Cong., 2d sess., H. Doc. 551, vol. 1, pp. 272, 273, 618, 619, 747, 1906.

Skeleton, R. E., The legal elements of boundary surveying, Indianapolis,

1929.

Taylor, R. H., A treatise on the law of boundaries and fences, Albany, William Gould & Son, 1874.

Digest of U. S. Supreme Court reports (subject "Boundaries "), vol. 3, pp. 1339-1357, Rochester, N. Y., 1928.

*See New York laws for 1887, ch. 421, and for 1892, ch. 678; Pennsylvania act approved May 4, 1889; and Massachusetts revised laws, ch. 1, sec. 4.

* Crim. Code, sec. 57; 35 Stat. L. 1099.

BOUNDARIES OF THE UNITED STATES AND ADDITIONS TO ITS TERRITORY

BOUNDARIES OF THE UNITED STATES

PROVISIONAL TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 1782

The original limits of the United States were first definitely described in the provisional treaty concluded with Great Britain November 30, 1782. The second article of that treaty defines them as follows 38 (see fig. 2):

ARTICLE II. From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz, that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix River to the highlands; along the highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river to the 45th degree of north latitude; from thence, by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy [St. Lawrence]; thence along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into the Lake Huron; thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal and Phelippeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake, and the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most northwestern point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi untill it shall intersect the northernmost part of the 31st degree of north latitude. South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of 31 degrees north of the equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River; and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean. East, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its mouth in the bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean; excepting such islands as now are, or heretofore have been, within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia. [See p. 160 for a separate article attached to this treaty.]

38 Malloy, W. M., Treaties, conventions [etc.] between the United States and other powers, 1776-1909; 61st Cong., 2d sess., S. Doc. 357, vol. 1, p. 581, 1913. Mowry, W. A., The territorial growth of the United States, New York, Silver, Burdett & Co., pp. 16-25, 1902 (review of the negotiations preceding the signing of this treaty).

[graphic][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small]

A, The mark farthest north on the Lake of the Woods meridian boundary; B, monument on the Mexican boundary; C, a cast-iron post on the 49th parallel boundary; D, Peace Portal at Blaine, Wash., on the 49th parallel boundary; E, type of large monument on the Alaskan boundary.

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small]

A, Northeast corner of Connecticut; B, corner between Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; C, at north end of line between New York and Pennsylvania, 400 feet from shore of Lake Erie; D, on State line north of Howard, Md.

« PrejšnjaNaprej »