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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. 227.)

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. 256.) 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 the concrete monument now there (fig. 1C). 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. 26.)

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.

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

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[graphic][subsumed]

FIGURE 26.-Junction of four States: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

COLORADO

Between mileposts 81 and 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 MEX 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. Wyoming was admitted as a State by act of July 10, 1890, with boundaries as above described (see fig. 23, 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 latitude, 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.) 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 UtahIdaho boundary survey.

ΜΟΝΤΑΝΑ

The Territory of Montana was organized by act of May 26, 1864, from a portion of Idaho. Its limits (figs. 23, 27), 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 twentyseventh 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 de gree of longitude northward to the boundary line of the British possessions; thence eastward along said boundary line to the twenty-seventh 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 into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of 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 Divide and north to the point where the divide intersected the parallel of 44°30', but left a triangular area of about 112 square miles west of long 34° W., south of lat 44°30' N., and east of the Continental Divide that still belonged to Dakota. This area was given to Montana by the act of 1873, which described it as follows (see fig. 23; 17 Stat. L. 464):

That all that portion of Dakota Territory lying west of the one hundred and eleventh meridian of longitude which, by an erroneous definition of the boundaries of said Territory by a former act of Congress, remains detached and distant from Dakota proper some two hundred miles, be, and the same is hereby, attached to the adjoining territory of Montana.

The act should have described the area as being west of the 34th meridian west of Washington instead of west of the 111th meridian, for the Greenwich meridian was not mentioned in the former act.

The enabling act (25 Stat. L. 676), which included also provisions for the admission of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington. fixed their boundaries "as at present described."

The presidential proclamation announcing the admission of Montana as a State was dated November 8, 1889.

The south boundary of Montana was surveyed and marked in 1879-80, under the General Land Office.

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