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In 1939 the States of Missouri and Iowa agreed to change their common boundary in the Des Moines River to the midchannel as it then existed. This was approved by Congress on August 10, 1939 (53 Stat. 1345).

A similar agreement with Kansas along the Missouri River from the 40th parallel south to the mouth of the Kansas River was approved by Congress on August 3, 1950 (64 Stat. 397). Exchange of State sovereignty over affected lands was made effective beginning at midnight following the congressional action.

For the survey of the south boundary, see Arkansas, page 195; and for the north boundary, see Iowa, pages 213–214.

The west boundary of Missouri south of the mouth of the Kansas River was surveyed in 1823, and a large stone post was set to mark the southwest corner of the State, at a point which sextant observations showed to be in lat 36°30′ N. This position as determined by the Geological Survey in 1906 is lat 36°29′58.0" N., long 94°37′02.9" W. (Marshall, 1910, p. 488). The 1823 survey of the south boundary of the State was begun at this stone. In 1845 a mound of earth, which had a 10-foot base and was 5 feet high, was placed at a point 4.83 chains farther south.

The west boundary of the State was resurveyed and remarked in 1844-45.38

A dispute concerning the river boundary between Missouri and Nebraska was settled in 1904 by the Supreme Court (196 U.S. 23; 197 U.S. 577), which reaffirmed the old rule that a sudden change in the course of a river does not affect a boundary line.

ARKANSAS

Arkansaw 39 Territory was formed by act of March 2, 1819, effective July 4, 1819, from a part of Missouri Territory. (See fig 20.) The following clause from the act (3 Stat. L. 474) establishing it defines its limits in part:

* all that part of the Territory of Missouri which lies south of a line, beginning on the Mississippi River, at thirty-six degrees, north latitude, running thence west to the river St. François; thence up the same to thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude; and thence west to the western territorial boundary line; shall, for the purposes of a territorial government, constitute a separate territory and be called the Arkansaw Territory.

For geographic positions of three State-line points near Kansas City, see Baldwin (1915, p. 31).

This is the original spelling. A concurrent resolution passed by the Legislature of Arkansas in April, 1881 (Laws of 1881, p. 216-217), declared that in the opinion of that body the State name "should be pronounced in three syllables with the final 's' silent, the 'a' in each syllable with the Italian sound and the accent on the first and last syllables." The discussions which led to the passage of this act are given in Rose (1908, v. 2, p. 462-477).

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In 1824 an act was passed by Congress fixing the western boundary of the Territory. This was as follows (4 Stat. L. 40):

the western boundary line of the territory of Arkansas shall begin at a point forty miles west of the southwest corner of the State of Missouri and run south to the right bank of the Red River, and thence down the river and with the Mexican boundary to the line of the State of Louisiana.

Four years later, in 1828, an act defined the southern boundary as commencing on the right bank of the Mississippi River at latitude thirty-three degrees north, and running due west on that parallel of latitude to where a line running due north from latitude thirty-two degrees north, on the Sabine River, will intersect the same (4 Stat. L. 276).

The treaty with the Cherokee Indians (7 Stat. L. 311) signed May 6, 1828, contained the following article:

The western boundary of Arkansas shall be, and the same is, hereby defined, viz: A line shall be run, commencing on Red river, at the point where the Eastern Choctaw line strikes said river, and run due north with said line to the river Arkansas; thence in a direct line to the South West corner of Missouri.

The eastern Choctaw line referred to was fixed by the treaty with the Choctaw Nation of January 20, 1825, as beginning on the Arkansas River "one hundred paces east of Fort Smith, and running thence due south to the Red River." (Kappler, 1903, v. 2.)

Arkansas was admitted as a State on June 15, 1836. The enabling act (5 Stat. L. 50) approved on that date describes the boundaries as follows:

beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees north latitude, running from thence west, with the said parallel of latitude, to the Saint Francis river; thence up the middle of the main channel of said river to the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north; from thence west to the southwest corner of the State of Missouri; and from thence to be bounded on the west, to the north bank of Red River, by the lines described in the first article of the treaty between the United States and the Cherokee nation of Indians, west of the Mississippi, made and concluded at the city of Washington, on the 26th day of May," in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight; and to be bounded on the south side of Red river by the Mexican boundary line, to the northwest corner of the State of Louisiana; thence east with the Louisiana State line, to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River; thence up the middle of the main channel of the said river, to the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude, the point of beginning.

In the State constitutions for 1836, 1854, 1868, and 1874 the boundaries were described but without material change from the description given in the enabling act. The constitution of 1868 refers to an island in the Mississippi named Belle Point Island as belonging to Arkansas, and the constitution of 1874 includes this

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clause: "and all other land originally surveyed and included as a part of the Territory or State of Arkansas.'

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An act of Congress approved February 10, 1905, changed the western boundary of Arkansas near Fort Smith so as to include in that State a portion of the Indian Territory (about one-fifth of a square mile), the boundaries of which were described (33 Stat. L. 714) as follows (see fig. 25):

Beginning at a point on the south bank of the Arkansas River one hundred paces east of old Fort Smith, where the western boundary line of the State of Arkansas crosses the said river, and running southwesterly along the south bank of the Arkansas River to the mouth of the Poteau; thence at right angles with the Poteau River to the center of the current of said river; thence southerly up the middle of the current of the Poteau River (except where the Arkansas State line intersects the Poteau River) to a point in the middle of the current of the Poteau River opposite the mouth of Mill Creek, and where it is intersected by the middle of the current of Mill Creek; thence up the middle of Mill Creek to the Arkansas State line; thence northerly along the Arkansas State line to the point of beginning.

By order of the U.S. Supreme Court (252 U.S. 344) commissioners in 1920 surveyed and marked a portion of the Arkansas-Mississippi State line, commencing about 1 mile below Friars Point, Miss., on an abandoned bed of the Mississippi River left dry by the avulsion of 1848. The line inclosed an area of about 5 square miles on the east side of the Mississippi as it now flows; the area was awarded to Arkansas (256 U.S. 28).

On March 7, 1876, the Mississippi changed the location of its main channel at a place about 20 miles up the river from Memphis, since known as "the Centennial Cut-off." The Mississippi, before this cut-off occurred, flowed northeastward along the west side of Brandywine Island, Ark. At the time of the avulsion the whole volume of the river with a head of 7 or 8 feet cut through a narrow neck of land, overcame the current flowing northeastward, and swept it backward for about 4 miles, thus reversing the direction of flow and forming a new main channel. An area of about 5 square miles of Arkansas land was left on the east side of the river, and 25 square miles of land belonging to Tennessee on the west side. In order to determine the proper location of the boundary between the two States at this place, Arkansas brought suit in the U.S. Supreme Court against Tennessee, which was argued in the October term, 1917. The report of this case (246 U.S. 158) gives a great many references to court decisions regarding water boundaries in general. Three commissioners were appointed in 1918 (247 U.S. 461) to survey the line. Their report, filed May 24, 1921, was confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court November 16, 1925 (269 U.S. 152; 271 U.S. 629).

The north boundary of Arkansas was surveyed in 1823. This line was not accepted. Further surveys in 1843 and 1846 commenced at a point near the Mississippi whose latitude from sextant observation was determined as 36° N. The marks consisted of tree blazes, wooden posts, and mounds of earth and stone. The 1843-46 line, which differed materially from that previously marked, was accepted by the legislatures and ratified by congressional act of February 15, 1848 (9 Stat. L. 211). Copies of the field notes of both lines are in the General Land Office records.

The part of the west boundary south of the Arkansas River was surveyed and marked in 1825, and that from Old Fort Smith to the southwest corner of Missouri, in 1831. That part of the west boundary south of the Red River was surveyed by the joint commission named by Texas and the United States in 1841 (see Texas, p. 197).

A resurvey of the west boundary was commenced in 1857, but after the surveyors had run it 8 miles due south from the Arkansas River they were directed to return to Fort Smith and to retrace the line of the previous survey, which had been found to diverge to the west (U.S. Cong., 1868).

A resurvey and re-marking of the entire west boundary was authorized in 1875 (18 Stat. L. 476). This work, which was completed in 1877, showed that the lines from Old Fort Smith both southward and northward diverged to the west, thereby adding to the area of Arkansas more than 200 square miles, the boundary mark on the Red River being 4 miles 16 chains west of a due south line from Old Fort Smith (U.S. Cong., 1879). The Cherokee and Choctaw Indians were paid for the land of which they had been thus wrongfully deprived (Arkansas Hist. Assoc., 1908, p. 211–236).

For a description of the south boundary, see Louisiana, p. 173.

TEXAS

Texas declared its independence of Mexico in 1835. In 1836 the Congress of the Republic of Texas defined the boundaries as extending south and west to the Rio Grande and northward from the source of that river to the 42d parallel, the eastern and northern limits coinciding with the western boundary of the United States as laid down in the treaty with Spain in 1819. This area comprised all of the former Mexican States of Coahuila and Texas. The boundary as fixed by the treaty of 1819 was reaffirmed by treaty with Mexico concluded January 12, 1828, Mexico having in the meantime gained its independence from Spain. These boundaries (9 Stat. 447) were formally recognized by the U.S. act of September 9, 1850. (See p. 74 and fig. 21; see also Spillman, 1902 and 1904).

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