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NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTH DAKOTA.

The Territory of Dakota was organized on March 2, 1861, from parts of Minnesota and Nebraska Territories. The following from the act of organization defines its original limits:

All that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, namely: Commencing at a point in the main channel of the Red River of the North where the forty-ninth degree of north latitude crosses the same; thence up the main channel of the same and along the boundary of the State of Minnesota to Big Stone Lake; thence along the boundary line of the said State of Minnesota to the Iowa line; thence along the boundary line of the State of Iowa to the point of intersection between the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers; thence up the Missouri River and along the boundary line of the Territory of Nebraska to the mouth of the Niobrara or Running Water River; thence following up the same, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the mouth of the Keyapaha or Turtle Hill River; thence up said river to the forty-third parallel of north latitude; thence due west to the present boundary of the Territory of Washington; thence along the boundary line of Washington Territory to the forty-ninth degree of north latitude; thence east along said forty-ninth degree of north latitude to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, organized into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Dakota. (Thirty-sixth Congress, second session.)

In 1863 the Territory of Idaho was formed, its area having been taken from Washington, Dakota, and Nebraska. (Vide Idaho, p. 136.) In 1864, in the act creating Montana Territory, the area described in the following paragraph was temporarily restored to the jurisdiction of Dakota:

That, until Congress shall otherwise direct, all that part of the Territory of Idaho included within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at a point formed by tho intersection of the thirty-third degree of longitude west from Washington with the forty-first degree of north latitude; thence along said thirty-third degree of longitude to the crest of the Rocky Mountains; thence northward along the said crest of the Rocky Mountains to its intersection with the forty-fourth degree and thirty minutes of north latitude; thence eastward along said forty-fourth degree thirty minutes north latitude to the thirty-fourth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence northward along said thirty-fourth degree of longitude to its intersection with the forty-fifth degree north latitude; thence eastward along said forty-fifth degree of north latitude to its intersection with the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington; thence south along said twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington to the forty-first degree north latitude; thence west along said forty-first degree of latitude to the place of beginning, shall be, and is hereby, incorporated temporarily into and made part of the Territory of Dakota.

In 1882 a small area was transferred to Nebraska. (Vide Nebraska, p. 127.)

In 1877 that part of the west boundary between latitudes 43 and 45° was surveyed and marked, under the General Land Office.

On November 2, 1889, the Territory of Dakota was divided into North and South Dakota, and each was admitted as a State. The following extract from the enabling act defines the boundary between these States:

* * *

The area comprising the Territory of Dakota shall be divided on the line of the seventh standard parallel produced due west to the western boundary of said Territory.

Bull. 226-04-15

The boundary line between the two States was surveyed in 1891-92, under the General Land Office.

OKLAHOMA.

The Territory of Oklahoma was organized under an act passed May 2, 1890, from the western part of the Indian Territory. Its limits as originally constituted were as is set forth in the following act:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SEC. 1. That all that portion of the United States now known as the Indian Territory, except so much of the same as is actually occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes, and the Indian tribes within the Quapaw Indian Agency, and except the unoccupied part of the Cherokee Outlet, together with that portion of the United States known as the Public Land Strip, is hereby erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Oklahoma. The portion of the Indian Territory included in said Territory of Oklahoma is bounded by a line drawn as follows: Commencing at a point where the ninety-eighth meridian crosses the Red River; thence by said meridian to the point where it crosses the Canadian River; thence along said river to the west line of the Seminole country; thence along said line to the north fork of the Canadian River; thence down said river to the west line of the Creek country; thence along said line to the northwest corner of the Creek country; thence along the north line of the Creek country to the ninety-sixth meridian; thence northward by said meridian to the southern boundary line of Kansas; thence west along said line to the Arkansas River; thence down said river to the north line of the land occupied by the Ponca tribe of Indians, from which point the line runs so as to include all the lands occupied by the Ponca, Tonkawa, Otoe and Missouria, and the Pawnee tribes of Indians until it strikes the south line of the Cherokee Outlet, which it follows westward to the east line of the State of Texas; thence by the boundary line of the State of Texas to the point of beginning. The Public Land Strip which is included in said Territory of Oklahoma is bounded east by the one hundredth meridian, south by Texas, west by New Mexico, north by Colorado and Kansas. Whenever the interest of the Cherokee Indians in the land known as the Cherokee Outlet shall have been extinguished and the President shall make proclamation thereof, said outlet shall thereupon and without further legislation become a part of the Territory of Oklahoma. Any other lands within the Indian Territory not embraced within these boundaries shall hereafter become a part of the Territory of Oklahoma whenever the Indian nation or tribe owning such lands shall signify to the President of the United States in legal manner its assent that such lands shall so become a part of said Territory of Oklahoma, and the President shall thereupon make proclamation to that effect.

The lands embraced within the limits above set forth comprised the present Territory of Oklahoma, with the exception of an area on the north known as the Cherokee Strip, and provision was made for its incorporation, without additional legislation, within the Territory whenever the Indian title to it should be extinguished. This was done and the strip was added to the Territory by proclamation of the President, issued in September, 1893, giving Oklahoma its present limits. These differ from those above set forth only in a part of the northern boundary, which now corresponds with the south boundary of Kansas from the ninety-sixth meridian west.

MONTANA.

The Territory of Montana was organized May 26, 1864, from a portion of Idaho. Its limits, which have been changed but slightly, are given in the following extract from the organizing act:

That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the limits, to wit: Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington with the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence due west on said forty-fifth degree of latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the thirty-fourth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence due south along said thirty-fourth degree of longitude to its intersection with the forty-fourth degree and thirty minutes of north latitude; thence due west along said forty-fourth degree and thirty minutes of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the crest of the Rocky Mountains; thence following the crest of the Rocky Mountains northward till its intersection with the Bitter Root Mountains; thence northward along the crest of said Bitter Root Mountains to its intersection with the thirty-ninth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence along said thirty-ninth degree of longitude northward to the boundary line of the British possessions; thence eastward along said boundary line to the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington; thence southward along said twenty-seventh degree of longitude to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Montana. (Thirty-eighth Congress, first session.)

In 1873 Congress, under the erroneous impression that a portion of Dakota remained west of Wyoming, and adjoining Montana, passed an act to attach it to Montana. As, however, no such detached area could by any possibility have existed, the compilers of the Revised Statutes sought to give the act effect by shifting a portion of the southern boundary of Montana from the parallel of 44° 30' to the continental watershed, thereby reducing Montana's area. The following is the act referred to:

AN ACT to readjust the western boundary of Dakota Territory.

That all that portion of Dakota Territory lying west of the one hundred and eleventh meridian of longitude which, by an erroneous definition of the boundaries of said Territory by a former act of Congress, remains detached and distant from Dakota proper some two hundred miles, be, and the same is hereby, attached to the adjoining territory of Montana. (Forty-second Congress, third session.)

The boundaries of Montana are as follows: Beginning at the intersection of the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude with the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions, it follows said meridian south to the forty-fifth parallel of latitude, thence west on this parallel to the thirty-fourth meridian, south on the thirty-fourth meridian to the point where that meridian intersects the continental watershed, thence westward and northwestward, following the line of the continental watershed and the summit of the Bitter Root range, to its intersection with the thirty-ninth meridian; thence north on the thirty-ninth meridian to the boundary line between the United States

and British possessions and east on that boundary line to the point of beginning.

The east boundary of Montana was surveyed and marked in 1885, and the south boundary in 1879-80, under the General Land Office. That portion of the west boundary between the crest of the Bitter Root Mountains and the Canada line was surveyed and marked in 1898-99, under the United States Geological Survey.

Montana was admitted as a State on November 8, 1889, with the above boundaries.

WYOMING.

Wyoming was organized as a Territory on July 25, 1868, from an area previously comprised in the Territories of Dakota, Idaho, and Utah. Its limits, which are the same as originally constituted, are defined in the following clause from the act creating the Territory:

That all that part of the United States described as follows: Commencing at the intersection of the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude west from Washington with the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, and running thence west to the thirtyfourth meridian of west longitude, thence south to the forty-first degree of north latitude, thence east to the twenty-seventh meridian of west longitude, and thence north to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, organized into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Wyoming. (Fortieth Congress, second session.)

Wyoming was admitted as a State on July 10, 1890, with the above boundaries.

The south and west boundaries were surveyed and marked in 1873, under the General Land Office.

COLORADO.

Colorado was organized as a Territory on February 28, 1861, with the limits which it has at present, being made from portions of Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska.

On August 1, 1876, it was admitted as a State.

The following clause from the enabling act gives its limits:

AN ACT to enable the people of Colorado to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States.

SEC. 2. That the said State of Colorado shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude with the twenty-fifth degree of longitude west from Washington; extending thence due west along said thirtyseventh degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the thirtysecond degree of longitude west from Washington; thence due north along said thirty-second degree of west longitude to a point formed by its intersection with the forty-first degree of north latitude; thence due east along said forty-first degree of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the twenty-fifth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence due south along said twenty-fifth degree of west longitude. (Thirty-eighth Congress, first session.)

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