3 messages.---------Johnnie
 
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>Date: Wed, 10 Jan 96 13:45:35 CST
>From: "Arlyn Sherwood" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Oklahoma-Texas Border Commission
 
 
 
You might want to talk withthe Illinois Attorney General's office (John Brunsman
specifically). Illinois & Kentucky just went through the same thing.
 
 
 
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>Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 14:18:39 -0800 (PST)
>From: "Edward M. Taylor" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Oklahoma-Texas Border Commission
 
 
One of the bits of trivia from my high school Texas history class was the
Texas-Oklahoma border (to put the states in correct order) <g>.  My
recollection is that the border was defined in the Lousiana Purchase
agreement.  The US was probably trying to avoid international border issues
related to river navigation and water rights.
 
Ed Taylor
GEOname Digital Gazetteer, GDE Systems, Inc.
Home Page: http://www.gdesystems.com/IIS/Slipsheets/GEONAME.html
 
(Terrible weather in San Diego; high was only about 80 degrees yesterday.)
 
 
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>Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 16:46:43 -0600
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Subject:  Re: Oklahoma-Texas Border Commission (long)
 
 
>There was an interesting article in Sunday's _Denver
>Post_ about a new commission that has been appointed
>to determine the CORRECT location of the
>Texas-Oklahoma Border, which is technically the south
>side of the Red River as it was some time in the 1830s
 
I don*t know where that 1830 date is coming from. Here*s
some of the history: The Oklahoma-Texas boundary was
originally established by a treaty between the United States
and Spain in 1819, known as the Adams-Onis Treaty. The
terms of the treaty provided that part of the boundary
follow the Red River to the 100th meridian as shown on
Melish*s map of the United States printed in 1818. I
believe the first  Red River boundary surveys where done
in the 1850s. There were problems with the location of the
100th meridian and the determination of which of the two
forks of the Red River was the actual boundary went on
for 40 years.
 
After oil was discovered in 1918 at Burkburnett, the exact
location of the boundary became the issue of a suit against
Texas by Oklahoma.  Oklahoma claimed that the 1819
treaty indicated that the boundary was the south bank
whereas Texas asserted that the boundary was at the
center of the river. The Supreme Court found in favor of
the south bank and a boundary commission consisting of
Arthur Kidder and Arthur Stiles was appointed to survey
and map the boundary. They did an extremely thorough
investigation which resulted in some very interesting
reports. I believe the current issue has to do with marking
a fixed location for the boundary instead of having it shift
with the river bank. In 1923, a Supreme Court opinion
included a statement that *the boundary between the two
states is not an unswerving line, but a river bank; and
where the natural and gradual processes of erosion or
accretion the bank is changed the boundary follows the
change.* The director of our Surveying Division is very
knowledgeable about the current situation- I can find out
more about the status of this thing if there is interest.
 
Michael T. Moore
Archivist, Texas General Land Office
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