-The Public Land Strip was a rectangular part of the land ceded to the United States by Texas that lay south of Kansas and east of New Mexico. For many years this area (5,740 square miles) was popularly known as "No Man's Land." Its west boundary, which has been generally accepted as the Cimarron guide meridian as established by the General Land Office in 1881, is 34.25 miles in length. The latitude and longitude of the north end of this boundary, which is the northeast corner of New Mexico, are 37°00′00.47′′ N. and 103°00'06.63" W., 1927 N.A.D.

The U.S. Supreme Court having decreed that the area east of the 100th meridian and between the two main forks of the Red River did not belong to Texas (see p. 198), Congress, on May 4, 1896, enacted (29 Stat. L. 113)

That, the portion of the Territory of Oklahoma bounded by the North Fork of the Red River and the State of Texas, heretofore known as Greer County, Texas, be and the same is hereby established as Greer County, Oklahoma.

The 98th meridian, which was then part of the west boundary of Indian Territory, was marked by the Geological Survey in 1899 with iron posts set in concrete.

The Cherokee Outlet originally comprised an area of more than 12,000 square miles south of the south boundary of Kansas, west of the 96th meridian, north of an east-west line through the mouth of the Cimarron River, and east of the 100th meridian; this area was reserved for the use of Indians while traveling to visit their friends in the West. The rights of the Indians in this area were extinguished by treaty (27 Stat. L. 640), dated December 19, 1891, ratified by Congress March 3, 1893 and proclaimed by the President August 19 of the same year; the treaty became effective at 12 o'clock noon of the 16th of September. This area thereby became a part of the Territory of Oklahoma in accordance with the act of May 2, 1890, and was open to settlers. The Cherokee Outlet was not the same as the Cherokee strip. The Cherokee strip was a part of the Cherokee country about 22 miles wide just north of the 37th parallel, now a part of Kansas. On June 16, 1906, an enabling act for the admission of Oklahoma as a State was passed by Congress (34 Stat. L. 267), the new State to consist of

all that part of the area of the United States now constituting the Territory of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as at present described.

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, pages 193-195; Missouri, pages 190-191; Texas, pages 198-201; Kansas, pages 223-224; and Colorado, page 229. 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 1858 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. 19, 29, 31.) 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 longtiude west from Washington; thence due south along said twenty-fifth degree of west longitude.

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 ma

jority. 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, pages 224-225; and for the north boundary, see Nebraska, pages 222-223, and Wyoming, page 234.

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

57

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

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

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. 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. 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).

58 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.