Article 3 of the Mexican treaty of 1828 provided for the appointment of commissioners to survey and mark the land part of the boundary from the mouth of the Sabine River to the Arkansas River, to determine the latitude and longitude of the source of the Arkansas, and

to mark the line of the 42d parallel to the South Sea, but no commission was appointed under that treaty, and the line was not marked north of the Red River.

A treaty between the United States and the Republic of Texas, proclaimed in 1838, acknowledged the "treaty of limits" signed by Mexico and the United States in 1828 as binding upon Texas, which was then a part of Mexico, and provided for the marking of the boundary (Malloy, 1910, v. 2, p. 1779). The eastern boundary of the Republic of Texas, which followed the west bank of the Sabine River, was surveyed in 1840 by a joint commission representing the United States and Texas from the Gulf of Mexico to Logans Ferry, the observed latitude of which was found to be 31°58′24′′ N. and the longitude, 94°00′02.4′′ W. The initial mark of this survey was a mound of earth 50 feet in diameter and about 7 feet high on the shore of the Gulf, the position of which was reported as lat 29°41′27.5" N., long 93°50′14.2'' W. (T. M. Marshall, 1914, chap. 12.)

In the following year another commission ran the line northward along the Sabine River to the 32d parallel as determined from astronomic observations, thence along a true-north line to the south bank of the Red River. Mounds were erected at 1-mile intervals on the meridian boundary, the measured length of which was found to be a little less than 1061⁄2 miles. The original plats of this survey are on file in the U.S. State Department, and the General Land Office has copies. The field notes were probably filed in the War Department."1 The approximate longitude of the meridian line at lat 33°06′30′′ N. is 94°02'35.1" W.

In a joint resolution approved March 1, 1845, Congress gave its consent for the erection of Texas into a State, provided certain conditions and "guarantees" were accepted, one of which was as follows (5 Stat. L. 797):

New States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the Federal constitution.

Texas does not appear, however, to have acquired by this proviso any advantages over other States, as it merely can give its "consent" to a division of its area, the right to make the recommendation or request for the division apparently resting with Congress.

On December 25, 1845, Texas was admitted as a State (9 Stat. L. 108).

In 1848 the eastern boundary was extended slightly, as noted in the following extract (9 Stat. L. 245):

41 The journal of the commission and some excellent maps of the survey were published in U.S. Cong. (1842).

That this Congress consents that the legislature of the State of Texas may extend her eastern boundary so as to include within her limits one-half of Sabine Pass, one-half of Sabine Lake, also one-half of Sabine River, from its mouth as far north as the thirty-second degree of north latitude.

In 1850 the State sold to the U.S. Government for the sum of $10 million, payable in stock bearing 5 percent interest for 14 years, that part lying north of the parallel of 36°30′ from long 100° west of Greenwich to long 103° and west of long 103° as far south as the parallel of 32° (9 Stat. L. 446; see also 9 Stat. L. 1005).

The northern boundary of Texas from the 100th meridian westward is thus described in an act of Congress of June 5, 1858, authorizing the marking of the boundary lines between the territories of the United States and the State of Texas (11 Stat. L. 310):

Beginning at the point where the one hundredth degree of longitude west from Greenwich 12 crosses Red River, and running thence north to the point where said one hundredth degree of longitude intersects the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude; and thence west with the said parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude to the point where it intersects the one hundred and third degree of longitude west from Greenwich; and thence south with the said one hundred and third degree of longitude to the thirty-second parallel of north latitude; and thence west with said thirtysecond degree of north latitude to the Rio Grande.

For more than 50 years the title to an area of about 2,380 square miles was in dispute between the State of Texas and the United States. This area, formerly known as Greer County, is east of the 100th meridian and between the two main forks of the Red River, which branch in approximately 99°12′ west longitude. (See fig. 25.) Texas claimed that the North Fork of the Red River is the main stream and the one referred to in the description of the boundary in the Spanish treaty of 1819, and the United States claimed the South Fork as the proper location of the boundary. After years of litigation the Supreme Court on March 16, 1896, decided (162 U.S. 90) that the territory east of the 100th meridian of longitude, west and south of the river now known as the North Fork of Red River, and north of a line following westward, as prescribed by the treaty of 1819 between the United States and Spain, the course, and along the south bank, both of Red River and of the river now known as the Prairie Dog Town Fork or South Fork of Red River until such line meets the 100th meridian of longitude-which territory is sometimes called Greer County-constitutes no part of the territory properly included within or rightfully belonging to Texas at the time of the admission of that State into the Union, and is not within the limits nor under the jurisdiction of the State, but is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States of America.

The Supreme Court records of this case, which cover more than 1,000 printed pages, are summarized in the decree of 36 pages. These

42 See footnote 40, p. 42, for reference to 100th meridian west of London.

documents contain much historical matter relating to the northern and eastern boundary of Texas, and also contain copies of a number of old maps. (Baker, 1902, p. 31–35.)

One clause of the decree places the boundary line on the south bank of the Red River, where it was believed old treaties and other official descriptions of the line intended it should be placed.43

Briefs in a suit by Oklahoma against Texas were submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court at its October term, 1920, and the decision, rendered April 11, 1921, reaffirmed the former decision making the south bank of the Red River the boundary, and in a decision rendered January 15, 1923 (260 U.S. 631), as to what constituted the south bank, it was stated that

the bank intended by the treaty provision is the water-washed and relatively permanent elevation or acclivity at the outer line of the river bed which separates the bed from the adjacent upland, *** and that the boundary intended is on and along the bank at the average or mean level attained by the waters in the periods when they reach and wash the bank without overflowing it.

The bed of the stream was defined as including

all of the area which is kept practically bare of vegetation by the wash of the waters of the river from year to year *

and excluding

the lateral valleys which have the characteristics of relatively fast land and usually are covered by upland grasses and vegetation, although temporarily overflowed in exceptional instances when the river is at flood.

A survey of the boundary, in accordance with this decision, ordered by the court, was completed, and the final report of the commissioners was accepted and confirmed April 25, 1927 (274 U.S. 714).

44

An excellent historical review of this boundary dispute is given by Isaiah Bowman (1923, p. 161–189), who states that the Red River case is "the most complicated boundary dispute on record anywhere." Surveys for the Texas boundary on the 100th meridian west of Greenwich were made in whole or in part under the direction of the General Land Office in 1859, 1860, 1873, 1875, 1902, and 1903, but none of these was accepted as fixing the boundary.

In 1892 the State of Texas employed an astronomer to determine "with the utmost care the location of the 100th meridian [west of Greenwich] at its intersection with Red River." As a result of the work thus authorized, it was reported that the initial monument of

See reference to the "right bank of the Red River" in the act of 1824, defining the west boundary of Arkansas, p. 193.

“A brief review of this boundary dispute and an extensive report (with maps) on the investigations made for fixing the position of the boundary are given in Texas Univ. Bull. 2327, 1923.

776-664 O-65-14

1859 was 45.11 seconds of longitude west of the true meridian. (Baker, 1902, p. 31-35.)

The position of this point was redetermined in 1902 from astronomic observations and reported as 3,699.7 feet (44.24'') west of the 100th meridian. A stone post 10 by 10 by 45 inches in size was placed on the meridian at a point 1,563 feet north of the Red River (U.S. Cong., 1902, p. 8).

The line marked as the 100th meridian boundary was retraced in 1903 by the General Land Office from the Red River north to the assumed position of the parallel of 36°30′ (U.S. Cong., 1905b, p. 4) and at a point computed to be on the true meridian a large concrete pier was erected marked on the southwest face "36°30′ N.L., 100° W.L., 1903." This pier is 243 feet north and 1,756 feet east from the east end of the Cimarron base line of the General Land Office. In 1881 a large stone was placed at that point and marked as being the northeast corner of Texas.

Neither Congress nor the State of Texas had approved any of the surveys for the 100th meridian; consequently none had any legal status (U.S. Cong., 1905, p. 10).

In October, 1926, the U.S. Supreme Court decreed that neither the boundary survey of 1859-60 nor the location of the 100th meridian in 1902-3 could be accepted as establishing the boundary and ordered that a new survey be made.

In order to locate the line with all possible exactness, the commissioner appointed by the court decided to place it on the geodetic meridian (1927 N.A.D.; see p. 10) determined from first-order triangulation by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and 20 stations were established by that survey on or near its assumed position.

The marking of the boundary line was commenced in 1928 at a point 340.28 feet east from the 1902 mark near the Red River and extended south to a point near the "cut bank" on the south side of the river, where a large reinforced-concrete monument was built; a reference mark on the meridian was placed at a point 351.2 feet farther south. From the cut-bank mark the line was run due north for a distance of 133.6 miles, checked in position at each of the 20 geodetic stations, and closed on an eastward extension of the 36°30′ parallel boundary line as determined by Clark in 1860. There are now 160 concrete monuments on the line, each having a lettered metal tablet set in its upper surface. The line as thus established was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court March 17, 1930 (281 U.S. 109).

The mark set in 1929 for the northeast corner of Texas is in lat 36°29′59.56' N., long 100°00′00.00'' west of Greenwich and is 286.5

45 272 U.S. 21. This decree gives a detailed history of the various surveys for the establishment of the 100th meridian. See also a brief history of the surveys in General Land Office Service Bull., December 1926, p. 315.