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North Carolina in 1790 again passed an act ceding her western lands to the United States. The cession was accepted by act of Congress aproved on April 2 of that year, and a government was provided for in "An act for the government of the territory of the United States south of the Ohio River" (1 Stat. L. 123). The boundaries (fig. 14) described in the act of cession are substantially those of the State of Tennessee at the present day. (Carroll, 1903, p. 240– 243; Staunton, 1860, p. 211-220; Shannon, 1917, v. 1, p. 33–62.)

Tennessee was admitted to the Union as a State by act approved June 1, 1796. The act of admission defined it as "the whole of the territory ceded to the United States by the State of North Carolina" (1 Stat. L. 491).

For the history of the eastern boundary, see North Carolina, page 155; for the southern boundary, see Georgia, page 162; Alabama, page 175; and Mississippi, page 170.

The middle of the Mississippi River became the western boundary of this area by the treaty of peace of 1783.

Virginia and North Carolina, prior to the creation of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, appointed commissioners-Messrs. Walker and Henderson-to run and mark their common boundary on the parallel of lat 36°30′ N. From a point on the top of the Cumberland Mountains, now the southeast corner of Kentucky, Walker ran and marked the line to a point on the Tennessee River. This line, called Walker's line, was regarded for many years as the dividing line between Kentucky and Tennessee. It has since been ascertained, however, that Walker's line was about 3 feet north of lat 36°30′ N.

The Indian title to the land west of the Tennessee River being extinguished by the treaty of 1819, the Legislature of Kentucky appointed Robert Alexander and Luke Munsell to ascertain the true point of lat 36°30′ N. on the Mississippi and to run and mark a line east on that parallel, which was done as far east as the Tennessee (Carroll, 1903, p. 240-243).

In 1820 commissioners were appointed by Kentucky and Tennessee to settle the boundary. Their report, ratified by the States and approved by Congress May 12, 1820, is in part as follows (Haywood, 1823, p. 485; Carroll, 1903, p. 240; 3 Stat. L. 609. For reference to the 1826 survey of this line by Thomas J. Matthews, see Henry, 1920, p. 177-184).

The line of boundary and separation between the States of Kentucky and Tennessee shall be as follows, to wit: The line run by the Virginia commissioners, in the years 1779 and 1780, commonly called Walker's line, as the same is reputed, understood, and acted upon by the said States, their respective officers and citizens, from the southeastern corner of Kentucky to the Tennessee river: thence with and up said river to the point where the line of Alexander and

Munsell, run by them in the last year under the authority of an act of the legislature of Kentucky entitled an act to run the boundary line between this state and the state of Tennessee, west of the Tennessee river, approved February the 8th, 1819, would cross said river; and thence with the said line of Alexander and Munsell to the termination thereof on the Mississippi river, below New Madrid.

In 1858-59 commissioners were appointed by Kentucky and Tennessee to rerun this line. The report of the commission on the part of Tennessee, giving courses, bearings, and milestones erected can be found in the State statutes (Thompson and Steger, 1873, p. 223–243). The report of the commission on the part of Kentucky, including latitudes and a map of the line, was printed at Frankfort by the State printer, in 1860, as a pamphlet of 98 octavo pages. Between Cumberland Gap and the Tennessee River the line is from 54 to 12 miles north of lat 36°30' N. As a result of this and other errors in the location of its boundaries, Tennessee gained about 2,500 square miles of territory that it would not have had if the lines had been correctly located.

The line was run from the Mississippi eastward to the Tennessee, thence down that river to a point in approximate lat 36°40′45′′ N., and thence eastward; it followed the old Walker line wherever identifiable, and where no marks were known it was run to points where the Walker line was reputed to be. At the southwest corner of Virginia is an offset from the Walker line, which had been adopted for the Kentucky boundary, to the compromise line agreed on by Virginia and Tennessee in 1803. The line was continued to the northeast corner of the State and thence about 111⁄2 miles southwest to the North Carolina line, a total distance of about 432 miles.

There are many angles and offsets in the line east of the Tennessee River that can scarcely be attributed to errors in surveying. It seems, however, that the commissioners who first ran the line between Virginia and North Carolina (the Byrd line) and the Tennessee north boundary (the Walker line) were allowed to change the lines at their discretion provided the commissioners for both States agreed; consequently they ran the line on an irregular course to accommodate influential inhabitants along the boundary who desired to rain in one State or the other. (For a comprehensive history of this line, see Garrett, 1884.)

By act of January 28, 1901, Tennessee ceded the nor. if of the main street in the old town of Bristol to Virginia. Thiession was accepted by Virginia February 9, 1901, and approved by Congress March 3, 1901. (31 Stat. L. 1465. See 190 U.S. 75 for reference to this cession.)

For a history of the boundary between Virginia and Tennessee, see Virginia, page 149.

An excellent article by Park Marshall on the boundary lines of Tennessee has been published by the State geological survey (Marshall, 1918, p. 90–108).

Geographic positions on the Tennessee-Virginia boundary have been determined by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey as follows: 27

A stone post 24 inches long, set 20 inches in the ground, on Holston Mountain a short distance northwest of Sutherland, at lat 36°36′51.2′′ N. and long 81°49′36.3" W. This station is very near the State line if not on it. The observer who located it stated:

The sketch submitted with the report of the commissioners who ran out the State line in 1858 shows an offset of about 14 miles between Bristol and this station. The tree marks are found on the straight line east of the offset point but are said not to be continuous; and blocks have been cut from some trees showing the age of 1802 or 1803 and have been crossed out. The only line marked through is that with this offset. Blocks with these erased marks can be had in Bristol, in the possession of Mr. Huffacre [1894].

I have found a stone post on this line in the valley of Beaver Dam Creek, about 11⁄2 miles above the village of Damascus and about 2 miles east of this station. I traced the line from this stone west to the highest point it crosses on Holston Mountain, where the station is established, and found several trees marked by both commissioners (1802, or 1803, and 1858) easily recognized at this date. The line of 1802 or 1803 is called the "diamond line," from the method of marking always thus ..., while the marks of 1858 are always :

In Bristol, Tenn.-Va., lat 36°35'41.6" N., long 82°10′41.6" W., the State line passes 15 feet south of the Baptist Church steeple.

On a ridge about 5 miles west of Bristol, lat 36°35′42.1" N., long 82°15'54.5" W.

About 3 miles north of Kingsport, Tenn., lat 36°35′39.9'' N., long 82°35'35.8" W.

On Clinch Mountain, about 4 miles southeast of Fairview, Va., lat 36°35′37.3'' N., long 82°49'49.4" W.

On the crest of Powell Mountain, about 8 miles northeast of Sedalia, Tenn., lat 36°35'38.0" N., long 83°10′32.3" W.

About 3 miles south of Ewing, Va., lat 36°35′50.50" N., long 83°27′52.6" W.

The following positions are on the Tennessee-Kentucky boundary (1927 N.A.D.):

Nine miles north of Oneida, Tenn., lat 36°35′51.86'' N., long 84°34′ 16.02" W.

Boundary monument 48, along Byrdstown-Albany Road, lat 36° 37'23.35" N., long 85°07'06.45" W.

See 190 U.S. 64 for report of commissioners who resurveyed this line in 1902–3.

Boundary monument 27, 0.5 miles south of Keysburg, lat 36°38′ 37.62" N., long 87°01'00.20" W.

State-line monument 2 (known locally as Puckett Rock) is about 7 miles south of Hickman, along Dyersburg Road, at lat 36°30′22.66′′ N., long 89°15′26.52" W.

KENTUCKY 28

Kentucky was included in the original limits of Virginia (fig. 14) and was a part of Augusta County, which was formed in 1738. In 1769 Botetourt County was created from a portion of Augusta County; in 1772, Fincastle from Botetourt; in 1776, Kentucky from Fincastle. The boundaries of these counties are described by Hening (1821, v. 9; 1822, v. 10).

In 1789 Virginia passed an act giving consent that the district of Kentucky be formed into a new State. Accordingly, by an act of Congress approved February 4, 1791, effective June 1, 1792 (1 Stat. 189), Kentucky was admitted into the Union with substantially its present boundaries.

The cession by Virginia to the United States of the territory northwest of the Ohio, in 1784, made the north bank of that river the dividing line, and consequently it became the north boundary of the State of Kentucky, the exact line being fixed by the low-water stage of the river (5 Wheaton 374). The western boundary, the middle of the Mississippi, was the line fixed by the treaty of peace in 1783.

The Supreme Court decided in 1820 (5 Wheaton 374), in a suit before it for the possession as a part of Kentucky of a tract of land on the north side of the Ohio, which at high water became an island, that

No land can be considered an island unless it is surrounded by water at all times. The same tract of land can not be sometimes in Kentucky and sometimes in Indiana, according to the rise and fall of the river. It must be always in the one State or the other.

For a history of the boundary between Kentucky and Virginia and West Virginia, see Virginia, page 148; for the boundary between Kentucky and Tennessee, see Tennessee, pages 176–177.

A peculiar aspect of the extreme southwest corner of Kentucky is that owing to a double bend in the Mississippi River, an area of about 10 square miles belonging to Kentucky cannot be reached from the rest of the State without passing through a part of Missouri or Tennessee.

OHIO

Ohio was the first State formed from the original "Territory northwest of the River Ohio." The congressional enabling act, approved

28 The legal name for this State is "The Commonwealth of Kentucky."

April 30, 1802 (2 Stat. L. 173), contained certain provisos with which the constitution of the proposed State must comply. It seems evident, therefore, that the constitution as framed required the approval of Congress before it became effective.

The constitutional convention completed its labors November 29, 1802; the constitution was referred to Congress and first considered in the Senate in January 1803. Apparently it complied with the provisos of the enabling act, for under date of February 19, 1803, an act was approved "to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the State of Ohio" (2 Stat. L. 201). In this act, reference was made to the action of the convention, thus virtually approving the constitution as submitted, although it provided for a change in the boundary described in the enabling act. Referring to the constitution as adopted, this act states, "whereby the said State became one of the United States of America." An act approved February 21, 1806 (2 Stat. L. 350), appropriated money for the payment of salaries of the governor, secretary, and judges of the "late Territory" of Ohio from November 29, 1802, to "the first Tuesday in March, 1803” (March 1).

It would therefore appear that March 1, 1803, was the date on which Congress assumed that Ohio statehood came into full effect. In further confirmation of this conclusion, it should be noted that the Territorial delegate in Congress retained his seat until March 1, 1803, and the first general assembly of the State convened on the same date. (Mag. Am. Hist., October 1887, p. 306–316; Tannehill, 1920, p. 9.)

In view of the conflicting evidence as to the date of Ohio's admission to the Union, it is not surprising that various dates are claimed as correct. However, the congressional act signed by the President February 19, 1803, referred to above, says in part:

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said State of Ohio as elsewhere within the United States.

The formal wording of this part of the act would imply congressional approval to the entrance of Ohio into the Union, and it is probable that February 19, 1803, should be accepted as the date.

The limits of the State as given in the enabling act are as follows (2 Stat. L. 173):

bounded on the east by the Pennsylvania line, on the south by the Ohio River, to the mouth of the Great Miami river, on the west by the line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami, aforesaid, and on the north by an east and west line, drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east after intersecting the due north line aforesaid, from the mouth of the Great Miami until it shall intersect Lake Erie or the territorial line, and

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