of the forty-second parallel. Furthermore, our northern boundary had been established on the forty-ninth parallel to the Pacific Ocean. Out of this great western region were carved the following Territories:

Oregon Territory, which was formed in 1848, and which extended from the parallel of 49° north latitude southward to latitude 42°, and from the Pacific Ocean east to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. California, which was admitted as a State in 1849, with the same limits which it possesses at present.

Utah Territory, which was formed in 1850, and which extended from the forty-second parallel southward to the thirty-seventh, and from the California boundary line eastward to the Rocky Mountains.

New Mexico, which comprised all the country lying south of Utah to the boundary line of Texas and Mexico, and from the California boundary eastward to the boundary of Texas.

Nebraska Territory, which was formed from Missouri Territory in 1854. It comprised the country from the forty-ninth parallel down to the fortieth, and from the Missouri and White Earth rivers west to the summit of the Rocky Mountains.

Kansas Territory, formed by the same act as the last, comprised the country lying west of Missouri to the boundary of New Mexico and Utah, and from the south boundary of Nebraska to the thirty-seventh parallel.

Indian Territory then had its present limits.

Washington Territory was formed in 1853 from a part of Oregon, its southern boundary being Columbia River and the parallel of 46° north latitude, and its east line being the summit of the Rocky Mountains.

Oregon was admitted as a State in 1857, with its boundaries as at present established. The portion cut off from Oregon Territory was placed under the Territorial government of Washington.

Dakota Territory was formed in 1861. As originally formed, it comprised all that region between its present eastern and southern boundaries, while its western boundary was the summit of the Rocky Mountains.

The Territory of Nevada was organized from the western portion of the Territory of Utah in 1861. As originally constituted, its eastern line was the meridian of 39° of longitude west from Washington, and its southern boundary was the parallel of 37° of latitude. It was admitted as a State in 1864, its eastern boundary being made the thirty-eighth degree of longitude (approximately the one hundred and fifteenth degree west from Greenwich), while its southern boundary remained the same. In 1866, by act of Congress, the eastern boundary was moved one degree farther to the eastward, placing it upon the

thirty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington, and the triangular portion contained between the former southern boundary, the boundary of California, the Colorado River, and the meridian of 37° of longitude was added, thus giving the State its present area and limits.

Colorado Territory was formed in 1861, with the limits of the present State. It was admitted as a State in 1876.

The Territory of Arizona was formed from New Mexico in 1863, being that portion of New Mexico lying west of the thirty-second meridian west of Washington.

In the same year Idaho was formed from parts of Dakota and Washington Territories. As originally constituted it included all the territory lying east of the present eastern limits of Oregon and Washington Territory to the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west of Washington, the latter meridian being its eastern boundary. Its southern boundary was the northern boundary of Colorado and Utah--that is, the forty-first and forty-second parallels of latitude.

From this Territory was detached, in 1864, the Territory of Montana with its present limits, and in 1868 the Territory of Wyoming, these several changes reducing Idaho to its present dimensions.

CHAPTER III.

THE BOUNDARY LINES OF THE STATES AND TERRI

TORIES.

MAINE.

The first charter having any relation to the territory comprising the present State of Maine is that granted by Henry IV of France to Pierre du Gast, Sieur de Monts, in 1603, known as the charter of Acadia, which embraced the whole of North America between the fortieth and forty-sixth degree of north latitude. Under this, several expeditions were made, and in 1606 it was decided to make a permanent settlement at Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia, and no further attempts were made under this charter to plant colonies within the limits of the present State of Maine. (Vide Charters and Constitutions, p. 771.)

By the first charter of Virginia (vide Virginia, p. 95), granted by James I, in 1606, the lands along the coast of North America between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude were given to two companies, to one of which, the Plymouth Company, was assigned that part of North America including the coast of New England. The first colony in Maine was planted on the Peninsula of Sabine, at the mouth of Kennebec River, now Hunnewell Point, on August 19, 1607, O. S., by George Popham.

James I in 1620 granted a charter to the Plymouth Company, in which may be found the following, viz:

*

Wee, therefore * * do grant ordain and establish that all that Circuit, Continent, Precincts and Limitts in America lying and being in Breadth from Fourty Degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equinoctial Line to Fourty eight Degrees of the said Northerly Latitude and in length by all the Breadth aforesaid throughout the Maine Land from Sea to Sea-with all the Seas, Rivers, Islands, Creekes, Inletts, Ports and Havens within the Degrees, Precincts and Limitts of the said Latitude and Longitude shall be the Limitts, and Bounds, and Precincts of the second collony-and to the end that the said Territoryes may hereafter be more particularly and certainly known and distinguished, our Will and Pleasure is, that the same shall from henceforth be nominated, termed and called by the name of New England in America.

Under this grant, given in 1621, the Earl of Stirling claimed that he was entitled to land on the coast of Maine which was afterwards

Bull. 226-04—————5

39

granted to the Plymouth Company, and by direction of James I that company issued a patent to William Alexander, Earl of Stirling,

For a tract of the main land of New England, beginning at Saint Croix and from thence extending along the sea-coast to Pemquid and the river Kennebeck. (Vide Charters and Constitutions, p. 774.)

The heirs of the Earl of Stirling sold this tract to the Duke of York in 1663. (Vide Zell's Encyclopædia.)

In 1622 Capt. John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges obtained from the council of Plymouth a grant of the lands lying between the Merrimac and Kennebec Rivers, and extending back to the river and lakes of Canada. This tract was called Laconia, and it included New Hampshire and all the western part of Maine. (Vide Whiton's New Hampshire.)

Mason and Gorges, in 1629, by mutual consent divided their territory into two by the river Piscataqua. That part on the east of this river was relinquished to Gorges, who called it Maine. (Vide Whiton's New Hampshire.)

The charter of the Plymouth Company was surrendered to the King in the year 1635. (Vide Plymouth Colony Laws, p. 333 et supra.)

King Charles I, in the year 1639, granted a charter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, which virtually confirmed the patent given to him by the Plymouth Company in 1622.

The following extract from that charter defines the boundaries:

All that Parte Purparte and Porcon of the Mayne Lande of New England aforesaid beginning att the entrance of Piscataway Harbor and soe to passe upp the same into the River of Newichewanocke and through the same unto the furthest heade thereof and from thence Northwestwards till one hundred and twenty miles bee finished and from Piscataway Harbor mouth aforesaid Northeastwards along the Sea Coasts to Sagadahocke and up the River thereof to Kynybequy River and through the same into the heade thereof and into the Lande Northwestwards untill one hundred and twenty myles bee ended being accompted from the mouth of Sagadahocke and from the period of one hundred and twenty myles aforesaid to crosse over Lande to the one hundred and twenty myles end formerly reckoned upp into the Lande from Piscataway Harbor through Newichewanocke River and also the Northe halfe of the Isles of Shoales togeather with the Isles of Capawock and Nawtican neere Cape Cod as alsoe all the Islands and Iletts lyeinge within five leagues of the Mayne all alonge the aforesaide coasts betweene the aforesaid River of Pascataway and Sagadahocke with all the Creeks Havens and Harbors thereunto belonginge and the Revercon and Revercons Remaynder and Remaynders of all and singular the said Landes Rivers and Premisses. All which said Part Purpart or Porcon of the Mayne Lande and all and every the Premisses herein before named Wee Doe for us our heires and successors create and incorporate into One Province or Countie, and Wee Doe name ordeyne and appoynt that the porcon of the Mayne Lande and Premises aforesaid shall forever hereafter bee called and named The Province or Countie of Mayne.

In 1664 Charles II granted to the Duke of York, who, the year before, had purchased the territory, which had been awarded to the Earl of Stirling in the division of the country to his heirs, a portion of the present State of Maine, and also certain islands on the coast,

and a large territory west of the Connecticut River. (For the boundaries, vide New York, p. 77 et seq.)

In 1674 Charles II made a new grant to the Duke of York, in substantially the same terms as that of 1664, including, as before, a portion of Maine. (Vide New York, p. 78.)

In the year 1677, Ferdinando Gorges, a grandson of Sir Ferdinando Gorges sold and gave a deed of the province of Maine to John Ushur, a merchant, of Boston, for £1,250. In the same year, Ushur gave a deed of the same territory to the governor and company of Massachusetts Bay, who had received a grant from the council of Plymouth in 1628, confirmed by the King in 1629. (Vide C. & C., p. 774.)

In 1686 Pemaquid and its dependencies, forming Cornwall County, under the jurisdiction of New York, were annexed to the New England government by a royal order, dated September 19, 1686. (Vide Maine Historical Society Collection, vol. 5.)

The charter of Massachusetts Bay of 1629 having been canceled in 1684, in 1691 William and Mary granted a new one, incorporating the provinces of Maine and Acadia, or Nova Scotia, with the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and of Plymouth, into one royal province by the name of the Royal Province of Massachusetts Bay. (Vide Mass., p. 54.) The right of government thus acquired over the district of Maine was exercised by Massachusetts until 1819, when measures were taken to admit Maine as an independent State.

By the treaty of Paris in 1763, the King of France relinquished all claim to that portion of North America which includes the present State of Maine.

The northern and eastern boundaries were settled by the United States and Great Britain. (See p. 12 et seq.)

The western boundary was for a long time a source of contention between Maine and New Hampshire.

New Hampshire having been made a province in 1679, controversies arose concerning the divisional line.

In 1731 commissioners from New Hampshire and from Massachusetts, having been appointed, met, but were unable to agree. New Hampshire appealed to the King, and the King ordered that a settlement should be made by commissioners from the neighboring provinces. The board met at Hampton in 1737. The commissioners fixed on-substantially— the present boundary, wording their report as follows:

Beginning at the entrance of Pascataqua Harbor, and so to pass up the same to the River Newhichawack, and thro' the same into the furthest head thereof, and thence run north 2 degrees west till 120 miles were finished, from the mouth of Pascataqua Harbor, or until it meets with His Majesty's other governments. (See N. H. Historical Coll., Vol. II.)

This was confirmed by the King, August 5, 1740.

In 1820 Maine was admitted, as an independent State.