Page images
PDF
EPUB

River, at a point now four chains below the actual junction, latitude 30°42′ 42", longitude 80°53'15". The average direction of this line is about south 6° east, and distance about 150 miles direct.

The U.S. Supreme Court (13 Howard 381; see also 260 U.S. 628) decreed regarding the river boundary between Georgia and Alabama that

The boundary line runs up the river on and along its western bank the water line impressed upon the bank above the slope is the line Both bank and bed are to be ascertained by inspection, and the line is where the action of the water has permanently marked itself upon the soil. * * * We must reject, altogether, the attempt to trace the line by either ordinary low water or low water. These terms are only predicable of those parts of rivers within the ebb and flow of the tides, *** The permanent fast-land bank is referred to as governing the line. And where the bank is fairly marked by the water, that water level will show at all places where the line is.

FLORIDA

Florida was originally settled by the Spaniards and was held as a Spanish Province for nearly 200 years. In 1763 it was ceded by Spain to Great Britain, which divided it into the two Provinces of East Florida and West Florida, separated by the Apalachicola River. East Florida had the same northern boundary as the present State (fig. 15), and West Florida at first had a northern boundary on the 31st parallel, but in 1764 the Province was extended northward to the paralled through the mouth of Yassous River (now the Yazoo), said to be in lat 32°28′ N (Lowery and McCardle, 1891, p. 108; Donaldson, 1884, p. 108). Geological Survey maps show an old mouth of the Yazoo in lat 32°22′ N.

The peace treaty concluded in 1782 between the United States and Great Britain specified the 31st parallel as the boundary between the United States and West Florida, but by a separate article provided as follows (Malloy, 1910, v. 1, p. 584):

It is hereby understood and agreed that in case Great Britain, at the conclusion of the present war, shall recover or be put in possession of West Florida, the line of north boundary between the said province and the United States shall be a line drawn from the mouth of the river Yassous, where it unites with the Mississippi, due east to the river Apalachicola.

In 1783 Great Britain retroceded Florida to Spain without a definite settlement of the northern boundary of West Florida, which at once became a matter of dispute between the United States and Spain. Spain claimed the territory as far north as the parallel through the mouth of the Yassous; the United States claimed the 31st parallel as the boundary under the treaties of 1782 and 1783, and on that parallel it was fixed by the treaty with Spain signed October 27, 1795.

(Chambers, 1898; Fairbanks, 1871, p. 209; Fuller, 1906. See also 13 Howard 406.)

Not only was the northern boundary of West Florida in dispute, but after the Louisiana purchase of 1803 the United States claimed the entire area east to the Perdido River. (See p. 41.) The act of February 12, 1813 (3 Stat. L. 472) authorized the President to occupy that area and appropriate $20,000 for carrying the act into effect. Although the Spanish treaty concluded February 22, 1819, was not in full effect until February 22, 1821 (see p. 43), Congress, by act of March 3, 1819 (Stat. L. 523), authorized the President to take possession of the Floridas and to establish a temporary government therein.

By an act approved March 30, 1822 (3 Stat. L. 654), the territory east of the Mississippi River ceded to the United States by Spain was made the Territory of Florida, embracing the same area as the present State. On March 3, 1845, Florida was admitted to the Union as an independent State (5 Stat. L. 742).

For a history of the northern boundary of Florida, see Georgia, pages 163-165.

In 1831 Congress passed an act relating to the boundary between Florida and Alabama (4 Stat. L. 479), from which the following is an extract:

That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be run and marked the boundary line between the state of Alabama and the territory of Florida, by the surveyors-general of Alabama and Florida, on the thirty-first degree of north latitude.

In 1847 the agreement of commissioners previously appointed by Florida and Alabama was ratified, and the line is described as follows (Florida Acts and Resolutions, 1848, 3d sess., p. 36, Tallahassee):

Commencing on the Chattahoochee River near a place known as "Irwin's Mills" and running west to the Perdido, marked throughout by blazes on the trees; and also by mounds of earth thrown up on the line, at distances of 1 mile, more or less, from each other, and commonly known as the "mound line," or "Ellicott's line."

This line was run in 1799 by Andrew Ellicott. It was retraced and re-marked in 1853–54 by B. F. Whitner, Jr., and again retraced in 1911, by authority of an act of Congress (36 Stat. L. 844) approved June 25, 1910. The examiner in 1911 reported (U.S. Cong., 1911, p. 19) that Many of the mounds erected by Whitner in reestablishing the Ellicott line are in perfect condition and are the best evidence remaining of the original surveys in the vicinity.

The line between the two States is given in general terms in the Florida Code as follows:

Commencing at the mouth of the Perdido River, from thence up the middle of said river to where it intersects the south boundary line of the State of

776-664 O-66-12

Alabama and the thirty-first degree of north latitude; then due east to the Chattahoochee River.

In 1953, the States of Florida and Alabama agreed to define their boundary at the mouth of the Perdido River and extend it seaward into the Gulf of Mexico as permitted by the Submerged Lands Act. The compact provided that the boundary should pass through a control point at lat 30°16′53′′ N., long 87°31′06′′" W. From this point it runs due north to 30°17′02′′ N., and due south to a point 1000 feet from the control point. From the north end of this line, the boundary extends up the river in a straight line to a point at lat 30°18′00′′ N., long 87°27′08′′ W., and from there to a point on the centerline of the Intracoastal Canal at long 87°27'00" W. The seaward boundary extends S. 0°01′00′′ W. from the point at the south end of the line through the control point to the seaward limit of each respective State. Congress approved this agreement on May 6, 1954 (68 Stat. 77).

MISSISSIPPI

By an act approved April 7, 1798 (1 Stat. 549), Congress authorized the establishment of Mississippi Territory, the boundaries of which were thus described:

All that tract of country bounded on the west by the Mississippi, on the north by a line to be drawn due east from the mouth of the Yasous [now called the Yazoo] to the Chatahouchee; on the east by the Chatahouchee; and on the south by the thirty-first degree of north latitude.

But as jurisdiction over this area was claimed by Georgia, the act provided for the appointment of commissioners to determine and adjust Georgia's claims, which were "declared to be as firm and available as if this act had never been made."

Georgia ceded its rights in this area to the United States in 1802. (See p. 160.) South Carolina having also ceded to the United States its claims to territory west of its present limits, the General Government in 1804, by an act of Congress (2 Stat. L. 305), annexed to the Mississippi Territory the tract of country lying north of the Territory and south of Tennessee and bounded on the east by Georgia and on the west by Louisiana.

In 1812 the United States added to Mississippi Territory all the lands lying east of the Pearl River, west of the Perdido, and south of the 31st degree of latitude (2 Stat. L. 734). The United States claimed this area as part of the Louisiana Purchase but had acquiesced in its temporary occupancy by Spain. By proclamation dated October 27, 1810, the President declared that possession should be taken on behalf of the United States and directed the Governor of Orleans Territory to assume control of it. (Thorpe, 1909, v. 3, p. 1375.)

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small]

By these additions the Mississippi Territory was made to comprise what is now included in Alabama and Mississippi.

On December 10, 1817, the western part of the Mississippi Territory was made a State and admitted into the Union, by resolution of December 10, 1817 (3 Stat. L. 472); its boundaries were (see fig. 16) given in the enabling act of March 1, 1817, as follows: 21

Beginning on the river Mississippi at the point where the southern boundary of the state of Tennessee strikes the same, thence east along the said boundary line to the Tennessee river, thence up the same to the mouth of Bear Creek, thence by a direct line to the northwest corner of the county of Washington, thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico, thence westwardly, including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the most eastern junction of Pearl river with Lake Borgne, thence up said river to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence west along said degree of latitude to the Mississippi river; thence up the same to the beginning.

3 Stat. L. 348. There is a historical description of the Mississippi boundary line in the Revised Code of the statute laws of Mississippi, 1857, p. 47-49, Jackson.

For further information concerning the eastern boundary, see Alabama, pages 173-174.

In 1819 the line between Mississippi and Tennessee was run by commissioners. In 1833 the Legislature of Tennessee passed an act (Laws of Tennessee, 1833, p. 52) defining the south boundary as the line run in 1830 by John Thompson, commissioner acting for Tennessee, but Mississippi refused to accept the line as thus marked.22 In 1837 the line was again run by commissioners from the two States and ratified by the legislatures. The commissioners' report was as follows (Tennessee laws, 1837, p. 27):

Commencing at a point on the west bank of the Tennessee river six four-pole chains south, or above the mouth of Yellow Creek, and about three-quarters of a mile north of the line known as "Thompson's line," and twenty-six chains and ten links north of Thompson's line at the basis meridian of the Chickasaw surveys, and terminating at a point on the east bank of the Mississippi river (opposite Cow Island) sixteen chains north of Thompson's line.

By joint resolutions (35 Stat. L. 1160, 1161) approved January 26, 1909, Congress authorized Mississippi and Louisiana and Mississippi and Arkansas to fix the river boundary lines between them and to cede the one to the other any tracts of land that had been separated from the main body of either State by changes in the channel of Mississippi River.23

The change in the location of the river channel caused by the avulsion of 1912-13 at Albemarle Bend (about 15 miles north of Vicksburg) was referred to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the boundary between the two States would remain as it was before the avulsion occurred (283 U.S. 791). The river is now (1965) considerably west of its former position.

In the Mississippi State Code the river boundary is described as "the Mississippi River (meaning thereby the center of said river or thread of stream)."

LOUISIANA

The original territory of Louisiana was acquired from France. (See p. 34-41 and fig. 3.) In 1804 a portion of this territory comprising part of the present State of Louisiana and the area south of lat 31° N. eastward to the Perdido, claimed by the United States as a part of the Louisiana Purchase, was organized into a Territory under the name of Orleans, and the rest of the Louisiana Purchase was named the District of Louisiana (2 Stat. 283). This name was changed to the

22 See Laws of Tennessee for 1833, p. 122, and Resolution 9 for reference to the Walker line.

23 Similar authority was granted to Missouri and Kansas and to Oregon and Washington in 1910 (36 Stat. L. 881; see also 211 U.S. 127 and 214 U.S. 217).

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »