Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-11-07
CHICAGO LAUGHS.
About the Slice of Land Claimed
by Indiana.
VIEWS OF MEN IN THE WINDY CITY.

The Line Too Long Established To Be
Initiated at This Date-Trus Inwardness
of That Fraud in Running the Ohio-In-
diana Intoxicating q Speck of War
Between the Buckeye State and Michi-
gan-A Widow Who Was Glad She
Lived in Ohio, After AIl-Serious CUES
zion for Chicago.
CHICAGO, Nov THE report that the
state of Illinois must cede twelve miles of
its territory to swell the possessions of
Hoosierdom Is re s->~S all those who
have any claim to - 49, Adorned upon
the question OF state surveys as huge
Joke. Lawyers laugh heartily when asked
she question. ais the Indiana state line
twelve miles out of plumbr Yet there is
undoubtedly some reason for asking it,
for the surveying party which has been at
work locating the Ohio Indiana boundary
is reported to have established the fact
that the line is wrong, and robs Ohio of
about ], 200 square miles of territory, in
Guiding Fort Wayne, Richmond, and Un-
ion City.
why the Line Was Run Wrong.
The report Of the surveyors, it Is said,
states that an inquiry into the causes
which led to the incorrectness of the
boundary lines discloses the fact that at
The time Ohio was admitted into the
Union some post traders at Richmond and
Fort Wayne were doing q very profitable
trade with the Indians. II the line had
been run correctly it would have located
the trading posts in Ohio. and they would
have been ruined, and this is why, it is
claimed, the post traders bribed the sur
veyors to locate the line as they did But
Captain Marshall, United States engineer
at this city, says that because the survey
ors ran the Ohio-Indiana line wrong is no
reason why the Illinois line should be
moved.
Thinks Chicago Need Not Worry.
Fernando Jones, whose long connection
with the real estate title business has
made him recognized authority on the
question OF land boundaries, ridiculed the
proposition that the Indiana line could
be moved SO far west as to include Chi
cago.
The boundary line between Illinois and Indi-
ana [said he to a repori erl has been surveyed
and established by a commission appointed for
that purpose by both states and the federal
government, and granite blocks have been set
up at several points as monuments OF the
boundary. 1t is a settled principle of law that
boundary lines so established cannot be dis
turbed. The claim that the Ohio-Indiana line
was falsely placed by the surveyors. who were
bribed by the Decentralization is likely
enough-does not affect the lllinOs-lndiana
line, which has been accepted by both parties,
and about which there is no charge or hint of
fraud. j think it will be safe for some time
yet to address letters to Chicago, Illinois.
SOME OLD-TIME "REMINISCENCES.
The Ohio-Michigan Dispute and Settle
ment-An Old Widows Idea.
Mr.. Jones got into reminiscent mood
then and continues:
When Michigan was admitted as a state the
energetic young governor claimed that the
boundary line between his state and Ohio and
Indiana should run from the head of Lake
Michigan to the head of Lake Erie. This
would add considerable of the present states
of Indiana and Ohio to Michigan. On the map
you will notice the northern line of Ohio
logs" a little from the line of Indiana and
Michigan. Ohio's governor "sassed back" at
Michigans governor. The militia of both
states were ordered TO the disputed boundary
line. The boys commissary was bread and
whisky-mostly whisky-and it looked like
war.
Glad She Lived in Ohio.
A compromise effected, by which the
present Michigan-Ohio and Michigan-Indiana
lines were fixed, and Michigan was given in
exchange for waving her claims what is now
the upper peninsula of the state. 1t was at
that time wild region, and the Michigan lead
ers took it only after much persuasion. An old
widow who lived in the disputed strip said
after the settlement that she was glad Ohio
got it. because I've alters heard there wuz lots
o. ager in Michigan, and don't want to live in
no state where there is ager." In the present
case guess we don't want to live in Indiana.
A Somewhat Confusing Result.