# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/25th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 116

Chap. CXVI.—An Act to authorize the President of the United States to cause the southern boundary line of the Territory of Iowa to be ascertained and marked.
Act of June 12, 1838, ch. 96. President to cause southern boundary of Iowa to be ascertained and marked. President to appoint a commissioner to act, &c. in running, &c. the line.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be surveyed, ascertained and distinctly marked, the southern boundary line of the Territory of Iowa, west of the Mississippi river, which divides said Territory from the State of Missouri; and that, for that purpose he shall appoint a commissioner on the part of the United States, who (with the aid of such surveyor or surveyors as may be necessary) shall unite or act in conjunction with a commissioner to be appointed by the State of Missouri and a commissioner to be appointed by the Governor of the Territory of Iowa, in running, marking, and ascertaining said boundary line; and that it shall be the duty of the commissioner so to be appointed by the President as aforesaid, after he shall have ascertained, run, and marked said boundary line,Three maps of the line, &c. to make three maps or plats thereof, with a description or survey-bill thereof appended to each map or plat; one of which shall be returned to the office of Secretary of State for the United States, one to the office of Secretary of State for the State of Missouri, and one to the Secretary of the Territory of Iowa, and the said commissioner on the part of the United States shall also make a full report of his proceedings in the premises to the Secretary of State for the United States.
Said line to be run according to acts of 6th March 1820, ch. 22, and 7th June 1836, ch. 86.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said boundary line shall be run or surveyed, ascertained, and marked in all respects according to, and in pursuance of the provisions of the following acts, wherein the said boundary line is defined and described, to wit: an act of Congress ​of the sixth March, eighteen hundred and twenty, entitled “An act to authorize the people of Missouri Territory 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, and to prohibit slavery in certain Territories;” and an act of the seventh June, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled “An act to extend the western boundary of the State of Missouri to the Missouri river:”Proviso. Provided, however, That if either or both of said commissioners to be appointed on the part of the State of Missouri and Territory of Iowa should fail to attend to the aforesaid duty, after reasonable notice by the commissioner on the part of the Untied States, or if the State of Missouri, or Governor of Iowa, or either of them, should fail to appoint such commissioner on their part, respectively, after reasonable notice from the President of the United States, then, and in that case, the commissioner appointed on the part of the United States shall proceed to execute the duties enjoined by this act with either of said commissioners who may attend, or without the attendance of either or both of said commissioners, as the case may be.
To be approved by Congress.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the line to be so run, ascertained, and marked, shall not be deemed to be finally established and ratified by the United States, until the map or plat, and description aforesaid, and also the said report of the commissioner shall be submitted to, and the boundary, as thus ascertained and marked, approved and ratified by the Congress of the United States.
Appropriation.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act, the sum of four thousand dollars, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Approved, June 18, 1838.