Tennessee River, from which the true bearing of this part of the boundary was found to be N. 2° 8' E. The final line was run on that course, and posts were established at each mile, the measured distance being 204 miles 30 chains.

Another party ran a trial line due south to the Gulf, from which it was found 8 that

the experimental line encroached on the Counties of Wayne, Green and Jackson in the State of Mississippi & * falls on the Gulf of Mexico six

miles, 22 chains & 54 links East of the Mouth of the river or Bay of Pascagola also spelled Pascagoula] * we have determined to alter said line to

a point on the Gulf of Mexico three miles, 57 chains & 46 links East of the experimental line, * which will be ten miles east of the mouth of the river or Bay of Pascagola, and there fix permanently the termination of the boundary line between the States of Mississippi & Alabama.

The final line was run and marked as above described for a disance of a little more than 102 miles, and a terminal mound was established about 3 miles from the Gulf, further progress being prevented by swamps. The entire line was cleared, all near-by trees were blazed, posts were set at each mile, and at important points Rounds of earth 12 feet at the base and 5 feet high were erected. The boundary between Alabama and Mississippi is described as follows: 87

[Beginning at] a point on the west bank of the Tennessee river, six four-pole chains south of and above the mouth of Yellow creek; thence up the said river to the mouth of Bear creek; thence by a direct line to what was formerly the northwest corner of the county of Washington, (Ala.); thence in a direct line to a point ten miles east of the Pascagoula river, on the Gulf of Mexico: The boundary between Alabama and Tennessee is by statute the thirty-fifth parallel of north latitude (see North Carolina, p. 130); from Nickajack (see Georgia, p. 141) the line runs 88

west along the southern boundary line of the state of Tennessee crossing the Tennessee river, and on to second intersection of said river by said line.

In October, 1807, Thomas Freeman made sextant observations for latitude a short distance east of Elk River (near longitude 87°). He marked a point which he estimated was on the thirty-fifth parallel, the north boundary of the area then called the Mississippi Territory, and ran the line between Elk River and the old Cherokee line, a distance of about 30 miles. In 1817 the line was extended westward to Tennessee River, a measured distance of a little more than 71 miles. Between 1822 and 1839 this boundary line was run eastward as far as the northwest corner of Georgia.

The notes of

*Manuscript dated May 29, 1820, signed by John Coffee and Thomas Freeman, U. S. surveyors; reports and plats are on file in the General Land Office, division L. Whitefield, Catchings, and Hardy, The Mississippi code of 1906, p. 244. Keys and Wood, Code of Alabama, p. 189, Montgomery, 1877.

these surveys are in the Alabama field notebooks of the General Land Office.

For the history of the boundary between Alabama and Georgia see Georgia, pages 138, 141-142, and for the history of the boundary between Alabama and Florida see Florida, pages 143-144.

The northeast corner of Alabama, as now marked, is more than a mile south of the thirty-fifth parallel. The north boundary crosses the thirty-fifth parallel near longitude 87° 20′, and at the northwest corner of the State it is about half a mile north of its proper position as defined by statute. The latitude and longitude of a number of points on the western part of the north boundary are given in United States Geological Survey Bulletins 216, 276, 440, and 551.

MISSISSIPPI.

In 1798 the United States formed the Mississippi Territory including 9 (see fig. 11)

89

89

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 to the Chatahouchee; on the east by the Chatahouchee; and on the south by the thirty-first degree of north latitude.

South Carolina and Georgia having ceded to the United States their claims to territory west of their present limits, the General Government in 1804, by an act of Congress. annexed to the Mississippi Territory the tract of country lying north of Mississippi Territory and south of the State of Tennessee and bounded on the east by Georgia and west by Louisiana.90 In 1812 the United States added to Mississippi Territory all the lands lying east of Pearl River, west of the Perdido, and south of the thirty-first degree of latitude. By these additions the Mississippi Territory was made to comprise what is now included in the two States of Alabama and Mississippi.

91

On December 10, 1817, the western part of the Mississippi Territory was made a State and admitted into the Union,92 with boundaries (see fig. 11) given in the enabling act of March 1, 1817, as follows: 93

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

801 Stat. L. 549.

90 2 Stat. L. 305.

912 Stat. L. 734.

92 3 Stat. L. 472.

Yasous River is now called the Yazoo (see p. 142).

93 3 Stat. L. 348. There is a historical description of the Mississippi boundary line in the Revised Code of the statute laws of Mississippi, pp. 47-49, Jackson, 1857.

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 atitude; thence west along said degree of latitude to the Mississippi river; thence up the same to the beginning.

For further information concerning the eastern boundary see Alabama, pages 144–145.

In 1819 the line between Mississippi and Tennessee was run by commissioners. In 1833 the Legislature of Tennessee passed an act

FIGURE 11.-Historical diagram of Mississippi.

establishing "Thompson's line." In 1837 the line was again run by commissioners from the two States and ratified by the legislatures. The commissioners' report was as follows: "4

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.

"Tennesse Laws, p. 27, 1837.

By joint resolutions approved January 26, 1909,95 Congress authorized the States of 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.96

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

LOUISIANA.

The original territory of Louisiana was acquired from France. (See pp. 22-28 and fig. 1.) In 1804 a portion of this territory, comprising the area of the present State of Louisiana except the part east of the Mississippi and north of Lake Pontchartrain, was organized into a Territory under the name of Orleans and the rest of the Louisiana Purchase was named the district of Louisiana. This name was changed to the Territory of Louisiana by act of March 3, 1805.98

By act of Congress effective April 30, 1812, the Territory of Orleans was admitted as a State under the name of Louisiana, and by the act of June 4, 1812, the name of the Territory of Louisiana was changed to Missouri Territory. (See Pl. VII.) In the same year the limits of the State were enlarged on the southeast to their present extent.99

The act approved March 26, 1804,1 defines the Territory of Orleans as

all that portion of country, ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, which lies south of the Mississippi territory, and of an east and west line to commence on the Mississippi river, at the thirtythird degree of north latitude, and to extend west to the western boundary of the said cession, shall constitute a Territory of the United States, under the name of the territory of Orleans.

The following clause from the act of 1812 admitting Louisiana defines its original boundaries: 2

beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of said river, including all islands, to the thirty-second degree of latitude; thence due north, to the northernmost part of the thirty-third degree of north latitude; thence along the said parallel of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the river Iberville, and from thence along the middle of the said river and lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain to

95 35 Stat. L. 1160, 1161.

96 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.

07 2 Stat. L. 283.

98 2 Stat. L. 331.

00 2 Stat. L. 708. 12 Stat. L. 283. 22 Stat. L. 702.

the Gulf of Mexico; thence, bounded by the said gulf, to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast,

Iberville River is now known as Bayou Manchac. (See p. 23.) The following is a description of the addition to the State of Louisiana in terms of the act approved April 14, 1812:

Beginning at the junction of the Iberville with the river Mississippi, thence along the middle of the Iberville, the river Amite, and of the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the eastern mouth of the Pearl River; thence up the eastern branch of Pearl River to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning, shall become and form a part of the State of Louisiana.

The north boundary of the Territory of Orleans (now the State of Louisiana) was surveyed in 1806, presumably along the thirty-third parallel, from the west bank of Mississippi River to the east bank of Red River, a reported distance of 147 miles 49 chains. Most of the marks were blazed trees. This location of the line was accepted in 1841 as the State boundary. From mile 101 to Red River this line was resurveyed and re-marked in 1841. Other parts of the line have been resurveyed as part of the regular work of the General Land

Office.

West of Red River the line was surveyed in 1839. The western 6 resurveyed in 1895, and a stone post 48 inches long and 10 inches square was placed on the Texas line to mark the northwest

miles was

corner of the State.

The Geological Survey has located points on this line as follows: Near east end of line, latitude 33° 00′ 16.5", longitude 91° 13′ 21.2", near Arkana, latitude 33° 01′ 11.0", longitude 93° 40′ 24.7", 1 miles east of the northwest corner of the State, latitude 33° 01' 09.7", longitude 94° 01′ 18.6". For reference to the survey of the west boundary, see Texas, below.

TEXAS.

Texas declared its independence of Mexico in 1835. As originally constituted, it embraced, besides its present area, the region east of the Rio Grande and a line from the source of that river north to are forty-second parallel, its eastern and northern limits coinciding with the western limits of the United States, as laid down in the treaty with Spain of 1819. (See Texas accession, p. 30, and fig. 12.) The eastern boundary of the Republic of Texas, which followed

(right) bank of Sabine River, was surveyed in 1840 by a joint commission representing the United States and Texas from the Gulf to Logans Ferry, the observed latitude of which was found to be 31° 58′ 24′′ and the longitude 94° 00' 02.4".

12 Stat. L. 708.