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[From Department of the Army Technical Manual TM 5-236; 1 square mile equals 2.590 square kilometres; 1 acre equals 0.407 hectares]

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10

BOUNDARIES OF THE

UNITED STATES AND THE SEVERAL STATES

inadequately marked, by blazes on trees or by stones so small that they could be easily carried off. 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; therefore, all obstructing trees and brush should be 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 cannot 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 12 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 3 inch deep.

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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; for water boundaries, suitable reference marks are set 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 Massachusetts-Rhode Island line.

The boundary marks should be protected by law and should be inspected frequently and repaired whenever necessary. Some States provide for such attentionNew York at 3-year intervals, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts at 5-year intervals.18

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

Whoever shall willfully destroy, deface, change, or remove to another place any section corner, quarter-section corner, or meanderpost, 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 [Crim. Code, sec. 57; 35 Stat. L. 1099]. The necessity for preserving boundary marks was recognized by Moses, who wrote (Deuteronomy xix, 14): "Thou shalt not not remove thy neighbor's landmark." Many references to court decisions regarding boundaries can be found in the following publications: Clark, F. E., 1922, A treatise on the law of surveying and boundaries: Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merril Co., chap. 21. Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Co., 1928, Digest of U.S. Supreme Court reports, Boundaries: Rochester, N.Y., v. 3, p. 1339-1357. Mack, William, 1910, Cyclopedia of law and procedure: New York, American Law Book Co., v. 36, p. 842.

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

McKinley, W. M., and Rich, B. A., Ruling case law, 1914, Boundaries, v. 4, p. 77-132; 1916, States, v. 25. p. 373-376.

Michie, T. J., 1909, The encyclopedia of Supreme Court reports: Charlottesville, Va., v. 3, p. 494-507.

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

Skelton, R. H., 1930, The legal elements of boundaries and adjacent properties: Indianapolis.

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

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 (see fig. 3)19 (Malloy, 1910, v. 1, 581):

18 See New York laws for 1887, chap. 421, and for 1892, chap. 678; Pennsylvania act approved May 4, 1889; and Massachusetts Revised Laws, chap. 1, sec. 4.

19 The north end of the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase, as shown in figs. 3, 27, 34, 35, and 43, is slightly in error. From a point on the boundary 30 miles south of the 49th parallel, the line should run northeastward instead of northwestward, so as to exclude the St. Mary River drainage basin from the Louisiana Purchase area.

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FIGURE 3.-Conterminous United States, showing accessions of territory from 1803 to 1853.

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12

BOUNDARIES OF THE

UNITED STATES AND THE SEVERAL STATES

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 until 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 beween 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. 104 for a separate article attached to this treaty.]

TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 1783 The definite treaty of peace with Great Britain, concluded September 3, 1783, defines the boundaries of the United States in terms similar to those of the provisional treaty.

The northern boundary became at once a fruitful source of dissension between the two countries. From the time of the conclusion of peace almost to the present day the definite location of this line has been the subject of a series of treaties, commissions, and surveys. An outline history of the settlement of this dispute follows.

TREATY OF LONDON, 1794

The fourth article of the treaty of London, signed November 19, 1794, provided that

Whereas it is uncertain whether the river Mississippi extends so far to the northward as to be intersected by a line to be drawn due west from the Lake of the Woods, in the manner mentioned in the treaty of peace between His Majesty and the United. States: the two parties will proceed, by amicable negotiations, to regulate the boundary line in that quarter.

This matter was not settled, however, until 1818. The fifth article of the same treaty makes provision for settling another doubtful point, as follows:

Whereas doubts have arisen what river was truly intended under the name of the river St. Croix, mentioned in the said treaty of peace, and forming a part of the boundary therein described; that question shall be referred to the final decision of commissions to be appointed in the following manner, viz,

Here follow provisions that His Majesty and the President of the United States should each appoint a commissioner, and that these two commissioners should agree on a third, or if they should fail to agree on the third, he was to be chosen by lot in their presence.

Which was the true St. Croix River had been a matter of controversy between the governments of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia since the year 1764.

The commissioners appointed under the foregoing provisions decided, on October 25, 1798, that the river called Schoodiac and the northern branch thereof (called Cheputnaticook) is the true River St. Croix, and that its source is at the northernmost headspring of the northern branch aforesaid (Gallatin, 1840, p. 5). A monument was erected at that spot under the direction of the commissioners.

TREATY OF GHENT, 1814

By the treaty of peace concluded at Ghent December 24, 1814, it was agreed to provide for a final adjustment of the boundaries described in the treaty of 1783 that had not yet been determined. The boundaries in question embraced certain islands in the Bay of Fundy and the whole of the boundary line from the source of the River St. Croix to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods (Malloy, 1913, v. 1, p. 615).

By the fourth article, provision was made for the appointment of commissioners to settle the title to several islands in the Passamaquoddy Bay, which is a part of the Bay of Fundy, and the island of Grand Manan, in the Bay of Fundy. The fifth article made provision for the appointment of commissioners to settle the boundary from the source of the River St. Croix to the Iroquois or Cataraquy (St. Lawrence) River. The sixth and seventh articles provided for commissioners to continue the line to the Lake of the Woods.

It was provided by this treaty that in case any of the boards of commissioners were unable to agree they should make separately or jointly a report or reports

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